PRESS RELEASE From: NATURAL LAW PARTY - Plaid Y Gyfraith Naturiol 4 East Grove Roath, Cardiff CF2 3AE Tel: 01695 735579 GM seed approval sets dangerous precedent Cardiff, 30 March 2000: The decision by Welsh Agriculture Secretary, Christine Gwyther, to allow the first approval for a genetically modified seed - the Aventis T25 maize seed - to be added to the UK National Seeds List sets a dangerous precedent, says David Hughes, leader of the Natural Law Party of Wales. Mr Hughes has lobbied Welsh Agriculture Committee members extensively on this issue. The approval from Wales was the last hurdle for the seed to be published on the List and, pending any appeals, for farmers in the UK to be able to grow the GM maize without restriction. "Christine Gwyther had the opportunity to perform a great service to British agriculture by disallowing this first seed to be made commercially available," Mr Hughes said. "Instead, she has chosen to approve it, in the face of advice from her own committee, her own previously expressed preference for a GM-free Wales, and the mounting scientific evidence that these foods pose unacceptable risks for farmers, the environment, and the public. This is a sad day for Wales, and for the safety of our food and environment." Agriculture Committee members vote against listing Of the ten Welsh Agriculture Committee members, the six Plaid Cymru, Tory and Lib Dem members voted against listing, while the four Labour members abstained. The Natural Law Party, along with many green and environmental groups, will be appealing against the listing of the new GM maize. "The pressure from Westminster behind this is obvious," Mr Hughes said. "While Tony Blair declares that he wants the most rigorous safety tests in the world before GM crops are grown in the UK, his government is forging ahead with them. First they announce a ten-fold increase in the number of farm- scale trials in the UK, and now they force through the first GM seed listing. Untested "The new maize, which is designed to be used as animal fodder, has not been subjected to any tests for possible delayed effects on animal health or human health, nor any indirect environmental effects. Have we not learned our lessons from BSE and other recent food crises that we should not take such risks, especially when perfectly safe natural alternatives are readily available? It is time that we put life first, and not the interests of big business." Ironically, yesterday morning's Agriculture Committee meeting co-incided with a farmers' demonstration outside the Welsh Assembly headquarters in Crickhowell House to highlight their economic plight - while inside, there was the launch of an initiative to promote sustainability in Wales. North American farmers experience problems with GMOs "Genetic modification is a little understood and poorly controlled phenomenon that has already given rise to numerous unexpected side effects in agriculture," Mr Hughes continued. "Farmers in North America have already experienced financial and other problems with genetically engineered crops, and the GM route is demonstrably opposed to the concept of sustainability. "It is reckless to give approval to the highly unnatural GM process in agriculture when there is no need for it and the long-term adverse effects could be disastrous. We should instead be promoting, and economically backing, natural, organic, sustainable strategies which would help develop prosperity, not problems, for our farmers, and safe, healthy food for everyone." NOTES FOR EDITORS: Research in North America shows that herbicide tolerant GM crops neither reduce the use of pesticides nor encourage farmers to move towards more sustainable systems of agriculture. A report published earlier this month by the Word Wildlife Fund in Toronto reviewed existing scientific data in relation to herbicide resistant and other GM crops. [1] The report concluded that: 1) GM crops do not offer sustainable reductions in use and reliance on pesticides. 2) The ecological risks from the use of such crops have been under reported 3) The economic costs and benefits of such crops has been miscalculated 4) The technology has been misrepresented in ways that suggest genetic improvement can take the place of management and skill in solving pest problems 5) The technology holds back the transition to 'Integrated Pest Management' systems of farming There is therefore absolutely no logic to support the addition of GM seeds to the National Seeds List nor for GM trials in the UK. The experimental work has already been done in the context of the large-scale GM plantings that have taken place in North America, and the results are clear. These crops provide no benefits for the environment, nor do they provide economic benefits for farmers. In the light of this scientific evidence, the Natural Law Party is asking why the UK government is spending large amounts of taxpayers' money on farmscale trials to investigate a technology that we already know to be demonstrably unsustainable? Taxpayers' money should instead be invested in risk-free, natural, sustainable systems of agriculture. Otherwise, we will be creating large-scale genetic pollution of the British countryside. Last month, scientists reported alarming evidence of such genetic pollution taking place in Canada, with GM varieties already causing unintended foreign gene flow between farm oilseed rape crops.[2] The result is that Canadian farmers are now having to widen the range of chemicals they use to keep fields free of weeds. Agriculture researchers in Alberta have now been forced to put together a complex nine-point strategy to try and combat the problems created for farmers by this genetic pollution. [3] References: [1] World Wildlife Fund Report: "Do Genetically Engineered Crops Reduce Pesticide Use? The Evidence Says Not Likely", available at http://www.wwfcanada.org/news-room/genews.htm [2] Details of genetic pollution spread in Canada and how this is forcing farmers to widen the range of chemicals they use to control weeds, available at http://www.producer.com/articles/20000210/news/20000210news01.html [3] Details of complex management plan now required to combat Canadian genetic pollution available at http://www.producer.com/articles/20000210/news/20000210news01a.html [4] For more information on how farmers in the US have been mislead on the effectiveness of GM crops see www.btinternet.com/~nlpwessex/Documents/gmlemmings.htm and http://www.btinternet.com/~nlpwessex/Documents/gmagric.htm ENDS