-Caveat Lector-
From
http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/environment/story.jsp?dir=58&story=11
8268&host=3&printable=1
}}}>Begin
Rise of GM superweed 'a disaster for wildlife'
By Steve Connor, Science Editor
05 February 2002
The spread of highly resistant "superweeds" in one of the world's
most important bread baskets is being blamed on genetically modified
crops.
British scientists have documented more than a dozen cases of weeds
in the heartland of the Canadian prairies that are immune to three
leading brands of weedkiller.
They believe that if similar GM crops were introduced in the UK,
farmers might resort to old herbicides that are highly damaging to
wildlife.
English Nature warns in a report published today that GM crops are helping the
creation of superweeds. Brian Johnson, a biotechnology adviser for English Nature,
said that the accumulation of two or three herbicide-resist
ance genes in one species – a process known as gene-stacking – is now widespread in
Canada and could have dire consequences for British wildlife.
If gene-stacking were to occur in the UK then it could result in farmers using
paraquat to kill weeds at the margins of fields, an area considered vital for
wildlife. English Nature also believes that the UK's existing se
paration distance between GM crops of about 50 metres would probably fail to limit the
spread of superweeds.
The superweed spreading in the Canadian prairies is a variety of oilseed rape that has
accumulated resistance genes by cross-pollination between different GM varieties. The
resulting plant is resistant to the broad-spectr
um herbicides Roundup Ready, Liberty Link and Clearfield.
Crop plants that become weeds are known as volunteer plants because they persist in a
field through seed being spilt from the previous year's harvest. English Nature found
that Canadian farmers were now using old herbicid
es, notably paraquat, to clear their fields for the next crop. Paraquat is
particularly toxic to hares.
"We do not yet know how stacked-gene plants would behave either in farmers' fields or
in the wild. The European regulatory system has not yet approved GM herbicide-tolerant
oilseeds for general release," Dr Johnson said.
Professor Alan Gray, the chairman of the Government's Advisory Committee on Releases
into the Environment, said last night he would study English Nature's report before
giving approval for companies to grow GM oilseed wit
h a second herbicide-resistant gene. "They would have to show how they would prevent
gene-stacking and what they would do to control it if it did occur," Professor Gray
said.
Herbicide resistance had been known about for 40 years, but GM crops were different in
that it was easier for plants to become resistant to several weedkillers, he said.
The Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs said that gene-stacking
could not occur in Britain at the moment because none of the GM crops in UK farm-scale
trials could cross-pollinate with other plants cont
aining a different resistance gene.
Also in Environment
Cull of female deer urged to boost stag numbers and the environment
Rise of GM superweed 'a disaster for wildlife'
Salvage experts in struggle to prevent oil spillage from beached cargo ship
More wet winters to come, say scientists
Two feared dead as foul weather batters UK
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