GM plants found in Scottish fields

Published on Friday 12 September 2008 22:09

GENETICALLY modified seed-lings have been discovered growing among oilseed rape in three fields in Scotland.

GM crops are banned from Scotland but the rogue seedlings have been found amid crops in two fields in Aberdeenshire and another near Arbroath. It is only the second time such plants have been discovered growing in the country.

Swift action has been taken to remove and destroy the contaminated seedlings, a variety created by GM giant Monsanto.

Mike Russell, the environment minister, said there was no risk to health or the environment but Friends of the Earth Scotland said it was another reason not to trust the companies behind GM crops.

The rogue seedlings were found in three fields where trials were going on into a new type of conventional oilseed rape by the Scottish Agricultural College and the British Society of Plant Breeders.

If the plants had grown large enough to flower, seeds could have spread, contaminating other crops and causing chaos for the farming industry. Mr Russell said: "Had these plants been allowed to mature, the risk to the environment could have been very serious. However, prompt action by the Scottish Government is ensuring that the situation is remedied. This further emphasises the continuing need for rigorous controls on GM material and for Scotland to remain a GM crop-free zone.

"The Scottish Government is working to understand how this occurred and to ensure it never happens again."

A Scottish Government spokesman said there was no suggestion the GM crop had been planted intentionally, but that it was probably due to a mix- up with the seed. A Monsanto spokesman said that, although the firm developed the gene in the crop, it did not supply it to these trials.There was "no risk" of the crop spreading in the wind because they were sown under the ground using a seed drill. They were too young to have produced flowers and seeds that could have spread. He added that by banning GM crops, the Scottish Government was "denying" farmers the ability to be able to compete by using the most efficient and safest methods.

But Duncan McLaren, chief executive of Friends of the Earth Scotland, said they were an unnecessary expensive distraction from real food security issues.

He added: "This is the industry that tells us it can control cross contamination of GM into other crops, but which can't even control cross contamination into its own seed supply system.

"We have seen repeatedly that the GM industry is incapable of meeting the claims it makes, whether that's about the benefits of the crops or, as in this case, about their ability to control the accidental contamination of other crops with GM material."

NFU Scotland president Jim McLaren said: "We are very lucky to have a world-class scientific research base in Scotland and we should make the most of it so we can decide for ourselves whether these crops and technologies show the way forward."