Guardian Unlimited
Damning verdict on GM crop
Final report on world's most comprehensive field trials says oil seed
rape varieties would harm wildlife and environment
Paul Brown and David Gow
Tuesday March 22, 2005
The Guardian
The following correction was printed in the Guardian's corrections
and clarifications column, Thursday March 25 2005
Contrary to what we said in the report below, oil seed rape is not
the largest single crop in Britain, neither is it the one from which
farmers make most money. According to statistics published by the
Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, it comes third on
both counts, behind wheat and barley.
The long-awaited final results of the GM trials for Britain's biggest
crop, winter oil seed rape, show that wildlife and the environment
would suffer if the crop was grown in the UK, in effect ending the
biotech industry's hopes of introducing GM varieties in the
foreseeable future.
The government, which has been keen to introduce GM crops, now has
the results of the world's most comprehensive crop study,
demonstrating that the GM varieties currently on offer would be
detrimental to the countryside. Bayer CropScience, the company that
owns the patent on the GM oil seed rape being tested, said afterwards
that it was not going ahead with its application to grow the crop in
Europe.
The Conservatives took advantage of the government's discomfort, with
Tim Yeo, the environment spokesman, announcing that the party would
not allow GM crops to be grown in Britain unless it could be proved
they were safe for people and the environment.
The trials, whose results were published by the Royal Society
yesterday, began before the last election when the public backlash
against the government's plans to introduce GM crops stunned Downing
Street.
Michael Meacher, the then environment minister, came up with a plan
to get the government off the hook by running extensive trials of GM
and non-GM crops to test their effects on bees, butterflies, bugs,
weeds and other farmland wildlife in two farming regimes. Large
fields were planted half with GM and half with conventional crops and
the results compared.
It was widely predicted that the GM regime, which uses fewer
applications of herbicide than conventional crops, would benefit
wildlife, but for three out of the four crops tested the reverse was
the case.
Yesterday's results were particularly significant because
winter-grown oil seed rape occupies 330,000 hectares (815,000 acres)
of British fields and is the largest single crop, and the one from
which farmers make most money.
The main finding was that broadleaf weeds, such as chickweed, on
which birds rely heavily for food, were far less numerous in GM
fields than conventional fields. Some of the grass weeds were more
numerous, although this had less direct benefit for wildlife and
affected the quality of the crops.
The scientific results made it clear that it is not the GM crops that
harm wildlife but the herbicide sprayed on them. Fields containing
conventional crops are sprayed with a herbicide which usually kills
weeds before the crops emerge but herbicide-tolerant GM crops can be
sprayed later.
The results on this crop were that the patented glufosinate-ammonium
weedkiller was so effective that there were one third fewer seeds for
birds to eat at the end of the season than in a conventional crop.
Two years later there were still 25% fewer seeds, even though the
weedkiller had not been applied again.
Les Firbank, who was in charge of the trials, said: "These weeds are
effectively the bottom of the food chain, so the seeds they produce
are vital for farmland birds, which are already in decline. There
were also fewer bees and butterflies in the GM crops. All the
evidence is that it is the herbicide that makes the difference to the
wildlife." Mark Avery, of the RSPB, said: "Six years ago, before the
farm-scale trials, we were told that GM crops were good for wildlife
and good for farmers' profits. Now, against all expectations, we are
told they are bad for both. It is bad news for the biotech industry."
Elliot Morley, the environment minister, will await the advice of the
government's advisory committee before making a final decision, but
said the trials demonstrated the government's "precautionary approach
on GM crops".
The European commission will today reluctantly give the go-ahead for
other GM seeds and plants to be used commercially in Europe and
demand that Austria, Luxembourg, France, Germany and Greece lift
national bans.
Although aware that the decision will provoke a public backlash and
be open to challenge, the 25 commissioners, according to documents
seen by the Guardian, say they have no alternative but to "fulfil
their legal obligations" and force through a decision because a
regulatory committee of national scientific experts and then
ministers could not reach a majority decision.
"We're caught in a trap. Though these are decisions bequeathed by the
previous commission, we are expected to break the deadlock - and take
the political flak," a senior official said.
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