UK to grow GM crops

[Guest guest]

Fri 5 Mar 2004

 

Scotland may hold the key to GM crop growing in the UK.

 

No 10 to approve GM crop growing

 

ALISON HARDIE

Political Correspondent

Key points

 

• Government announcement expected allowing GM maize to be grown in UK

• Cabinet accused of ignoring scientific evidence & opposition by public &

MPs

• Scottish Executive has yet to agree to growing GM crops

 

Key quote: " A decision to allow the commercial planting of GM maize would

demonstrate utter contempt by the government for the views of the British

public. " Tony Juniper, director of Friends of the Earth.

 

Story in full: DOWNING Street yesterday issued the clearest hint yet that

it will approve the commercial production of genetically modified crops -

setting it on a collision course with Scotland’s coalition government.

 

The decision to press ahead is in the face of overwhelming public

opposition, nagging scientific doubts and political concern. A report

published today by a committee of MPs will call for a further delay before

GM crops are given the go-ahead.

 

Sources said the environmental audit select committee had concluded no GM

crops should be cultivated commercially until further trials have been

carried out.

 

However, ministers appear ready to ride roughshod over dissenting views

and hope the announcement next week will bounce the Scottish Executive

into dropping any opposition to large-scale GM farming.

 

Jack McConnell, the First Minister, is accused by critics of sitting on

the fence on the issue mainly because of a clause in Labour’s partnership

agreement with the Liberal Democrats that blocks GM expansion in Scotland.

 

Photo: Sandy YoungThe Environment Secretary, Margaret Beckett, is expected

to give the go-ahead for farmers to grow GM maize crops specifically

designed to produce animal feed. It could see GM crops being sown on

farmland in England within months.

 

Yesterday, Mrs Beckett argued that trials had been exhaustive and it was

time to come down in favour of the scientific evidence.

 

A spokesman for Tony Blair, the Prime Minister, said yesterday: " It’s fair

to say that in the context of the conversation that took place around GM

issues, the importance of the primacy of science was underlined by several

members of the Cabinet. "

 

He insisted due weight had to be given to scientific findings, rather than

other points of view " not borne out by the overall weight of opinion " .

 

" You can take it we are on course for an announcement, " he added. " There

will be an announcement next week. I am sure all will be revealed then. "

 

A spokesman for the Executive said he was not aware of the plan by Mrs

Beckett to make an announcement on GM crops.

 

He added: " The Executive has not yet taken a decision on the possibility

of commercial growing of GM crops. We are considering all the relevant

information and its implications for future decisions. "

 

Mark Ruskell, the Greens' environment spokesman, said: " If Mrs Beckett

decides to ignore the advice of Westminster’s own committee, together with

public and scientific opinion, then it will be decision time for Scotland.

 

" This could be a defining moment for Scottish politics, and all eyes will

now be on the Scottish Executive, as it will hold the key to the future of

GM across the UK.

 

" The Executive has the power to block Beckett’s GM through the UK

seed-listing process, and defend Scottish agriculture from the threat of

contamination. "

 

Sarah North, a spokeswoman for Greenpeace, said: " Tony Blair has today

picked a fight with the British people.

 

British farmers are already suffering and the last thing they need is a

new threat from a technology that shoppers won’t touch. "

 

Tony Juniper, the director of Friends of the Earth, said: " A decision to

allow the commercial planting of GM maize would demonstrate utter contempt

by the government for the views of the British public. "

 

 

 

 

For what is a poem but a hazardous attempt at

self-understanding: it is the deepest part of autobiography.

~Robert Penn Warren, novelist and poet (1905-1989)