GM seed fiasco means farmers start to dig up crops

A Suffolk farmer affected by the Advanta Seeds GM contamination has decided to dig up his fields. The affected spring oilseed rape (Hyola 38) was contaminated with up to 1 per cent of genetically modified (GM) seed.

Major British supermarkets have said that they will refuse to buy the crops from farmers who planted the contaminated seed, leaving them facing considerable financial loss. It is believed that Advanta have instructed farmers not to dig up the crop in the UK.

The British Government has done nothing to prevent the affected crop from being grown, although in Sweden the Government is moving to ensure that it is removed from the ground as soon as possible.

Farmers who remove the contaminated crop from the ground and resow oilseed rape before the end of May would still be eligible for EU subsidy (Arable Area Payments).

"It is a disgrace that farmers have been put in this position. The Government has a duty to see that all the contaminated crops are removed from the ground at once, and that farmers are properly compensated for any losses they suffer," said Friends of the Earth Real Food Campaigner Pete Riley.

"We have repeatedly warned the Government that the issue of liability for damage caused by GM crops is completely unresolved. Incidents like this are bound to happen again if the headlong rush to commercial development of GM crops continues," he adds.