BAYER SCRAPS GM MAIZE PLANS!

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REALFOOD: UPDATE: Bayer scraps GM maize plans

 

 

 

 

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