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http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/news/articles/13323695?source=Evening%20Standard
22/09/04 – News and city section
Fresh fears over GM crops
By Mark Prigg , Evening Standard Science Correspondent Dramatic new claims about the dangers of GM crops emerged today.
Scientists have found that pollen from genetically modified plants is capable of contaminating crops more than 12 miles away.
That is more than double all previous estimates of its ability to travel.
The news will reignite the debate over GM crop safety by suggesting the contamination risk from the farming method has been seriously underestimated. Former environment minister Michael Meacher said the research was “extremely significant”.
He added: “What this means is that Britain is too small an island to ever grow GM crops.
“We would need to have exclusion-zones of around 12 miles for every farm. It just isn’t practical.”
The study was carried out by the American environmental protection agency, a US government body, and studied how far GM grass seeds were carried over nearby fields.
Seeds from wild grasses growing around the experimental plots were analysed for traces of GM.
The team found extensive gene contamination within 1.2 miles downwind of the experimental plots. But some contaminated grass seeds turned up across an area of 193 square miles, with the most distant discovery 13 miles away.
It is the first time GM crops have been proved to travel such large distances, and the suspicion is that pollen from many crops could actually travel hundreds of miles.
Mr Meacher today called for the Government to outlaw GM crop farming in light of the research.
He said: “Logically this should end the debate – it shows that any GM crop would contaminate traditional crops over such a huge distance that it would effectively wipe out organic methods.
“However, the Government seems determined to find a way around this, so I think the whole thing will go on. But it is particularly important that this research has come from America, where there are several examples of contamination already.”
The National Farmers’ Union said the effects of GM in Britain could be different from the American results but agreed the report was a matter of concern.
Dr Helen Serrier of the National Farmers’ Union said: “This research was on a particular type of grass seed. In the UK we would grow different crops but this is definitely an area we need to look at more, and we are currently working with the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs on just this.”
The department is discussing GM contamination and hopes to reach a conclusion later this year on safe separation distances between GM and non-GM crops.
A spokesman said: “We are currently working on co- existence, which includes separation distance. We hope to publish the results before the end of the autumn, and plan to have any co-existence measures in place before any commercial GM crops are grown in the UK.”
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