BAYER SCRAPS GM MAIZE PLANS!

[Guest guest]

Real Food News Update: BAYER SCRAPS GM MAIZE PLANS!

 

No GM crops are likely to be grown in the UK until at least 2008, after

Bayer CropScience announced they have shelved plans to commercialise their

GM maize ChardonLL.

 

The GM maize had been given conditional Government approval in March, and

could have been commercially grown in the UK as early as next spring. But

the biotech company admitted that the crop is now " economically non-viable "

because of restrictions on its cultivation proposed by the Government.

 

Serious question marks over the safety and performance of the GM maize were

revealed during the 'seed list' hearings which took place in

2000-2002. Friends of the Earth forced these hearings after attempts were

made to place the GM seed onto the UK national seed list, the final hurdle

to commercial growing in the UK. Over 220 individuals and 60 organisations

took part and gave written and oral objections, temporarily preventing the

seed going onto the list. The crop has been the focus of a long-running

campaign ever since.

 

The decision to withdraw ChardonLL is a significant victory for Friends of

the Earth and other campaigners, and a body blow to the GM industry. After

14 years of research and development in the UK no commercial growing for any

GM crop has been achieved. It is also an embarrassment for the pro-GM Blair

Government.

 

Well done to everyone involved in this campaign!

 

Demand Zero Tolerance

 

Although the immediate threat of a GM crop being commercially grown in the

UK has subsided, attempts to approve new GM crops and foods in Europe have

not. The European Commission, under pressure from the US, is likely to start

approving new GM foods, the first one up is a GM sweetcorn. The UK

Government has already shown its support for it.

 

So now is the time to make sure that supermarkets have the tightest possible

GM policies to ensure that GM doesn't sneak into our food and stays off our

shelves. New, stronger European GM labelling regulations come into force on

18th April, but they will still allow for small amounts of GM contamination.

We want supermarkets to guarantee that our food is genuinely GM free.

 

Take action

 

Demand your supermarket takes a zero tolerance approach to GM at

www.foe.co.uk/gmfree/

 

Thank you for your support and help on our campaigns, Best wishes

 

Liz Wright Real Food and Farming Campaign Assistant