UK researchers say location of GM crop trials should be kept from public

by Rich Bowden - Jul 30 2008, 00:26

British researchers trialling strains of genetically-modified crops say the current regulation of disclosing the location of the tests known to the public makes it impossible for them to proceed.

Current government regulations outline that all such GM trials should be on public record, however disruption by environmentalists including some vandalism of research areas, has agricultural scientists calling for a secure location for testing.

The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA), which licenses open-air trials told the BBC: "EU legislation says that we must disclose GM trial locations to the public."

"We are awaiting a European Court of Justice ruling, likely later this year, on a French legal case that should clarify how the EU law in this area can be interpreted by Member States."

Professor Howard Atkinson, who led a Leeds University trial that was recently vandalised by protesters, called on the government to provide protection for sensitive GM crop trials.

"Is it appropriate for universities to put up security that will cost a six figure sum to protect research from unlawful acts by zealots?" he asked. "We are not going to pursue the cyst nematode trials at the moment. I am not sure what the future holds for GM trials."

"I can only see two solutions. The first would be to have the Government regulate and assess trials but not publish their location or, and I think this is less likely, to have some sort of nationally secure trial field."

Since 2000, almost all of the country's 54 GM crop trials have been attacked in one form or another, according to The Guardian.

However, environmentalists have denounced any attempt to hide GM crop research from the British public.

Clare Oxborrow, a food campaigner with Friends of the Earth, said: "The government must stand firm and resist this attempt to keep the public and farmers in the dark over GM crop trial locations."

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