NEWS RELEASE

Dorset Farmers advised to avoid Genetically Modified Oilseed Rape

NLP has evidence of low yields and profitability

3 August 1998

GM Oilseed rape results reveal poor performance

The  Natural Law Party is advising farmers in Dorset that they should avoid growing genetically modified oilseed rape next year, in the event that  government consent for the crop is granted. The Natural Law Party has discovered results of trials in Canada showing genetically modified (GM) varieties are being out-performed by conventional non-modified varieties, despite being approved for official seed registration lists.

Information obtained by the Natural Law Party confirms that GM oilseed rape has not been scoring high enough points in standard performance tests to get onto officially approved seed lists in Canada.  In order to overcome this problem the approval committee concerned has had to change the scoring system, and has only succeeded in getting approval for GM rape varieties by awarding special bonus points which do not relate to crop output.

Farmers misled

The Natural Law Party has criticised the Canadian authorities for altering the rules in order to artificially promote GM products when they are agronomically inferior to non-modified varieties, particularly when farmers rely on the official listings for guidance on which crops to grow. Harvested GM oilseed rape in Canada is showing falls in yields of up to 21% compared to traditional varieties.

According to Mark Griffiths, Leader of the Wessex Natural Law Party and NLP national Environment spokesman,"This is a disgraceful state of affairs. Farmers in Dorset and other arable areas of the UK are being pressurised by biotechnology companies to follow their colleagues in North America and plunge into growing GM crops.  They are claiming that this is necessary for UK agriculture to remain competitive on world markets. The evidence in this case is that exactly the opposite it is true.  The official approvals system is being manipulated to cover this up."

Testing system doctored to suit GM crops

In order  to be included in approved seed lists in Canada oilseed rape varieties are evaluated on the basis of their agronomic value. Merit scores are awarded for yield, disease resistance, earliness etc. To be accepted varieties have to score more than 108 points. In this case GM oilseed rape varieties were found by the approval committee to be "not agronomically as good as the check cultivars" and failed to score the necessary points. 

However, the committee (which includes representatives from plant breeders and seed growers) decided to change the scoring system to accommodate the GM varieties and awarded them additional bonus points.  This extra score allowed a number of Liberty Link cultivars (bred by AgrEvo) and one Round Up Ready cultivar (bred by Monsanto) to be registered in 1995.

The official reason given for changing the system was "the demand and desirability of the herbicide tolerant trait" for which the varieties had been genetically engineered. However, herbicide tolerant crops can lead to considerable rotation management problems, particularly in relation to the control of subsequent herbicide tolerant 'volunteers' and 'superweeds'. AgrEvo has already admitted this will lead to farmers becoming reliant on a wider range of their herbicides in the longer term.

GM varieties lose farmers money

Earlier this year a director of the Ontario Canola (Rape) Growers Association  revealed that yields on his farm from Monsanto's Round Up Ready rape seed had fallen to 2.2t/ha compared with a 2.6 - 2.8/ha average for traditional varieties, with no savings in net costs.

"The actual performance of these crops exposes the misleading and entirely subjective basis on which the seed approval system for GM rape has itself been modified.  Farmers are being hit by this misinformation directly where it hurts most - in their pockets," adds Mr Griffiths.

Food safety dangers

However, the wider implications of the situation are even more serious believes a concerned Mr Griffiths: "What this experience reveals is that the biotechnology 'experts' are not in control of their science.  By engineering one trait they are inadvertently disrupting other aspects of the plant's functioning, which has lead to lower yields in this particular case.  But how long will it be before the inherently random techniques used in this technology also trigger a change in plant gene expression which is damaging to human health? The whole approach is 'suck it and see' and unscientific, and that is completely unacceptable when we are dealing with global food security."

The UK government is currently deliberating whether or not to allow the first GM oilseed rape crops to be grown in Britain in 1999.  The Natural Law Party, now established in over 70 countries around the world (including all 15 EU nations), is seeking a global ban on genetically modified food because of the uncontainable dangers to human health and the environment.

------ENDS------

Notes for Editors:

1. More information on the dangers of genetically engineered food and agronomic problems of GM crops is available from the Wessex Natural Law Party Web site at www.btinternet.com/~nlpwessex   .

2. Mark Griffiths was NLP candidate for West Dorset in the 1997 General Election, and is a Chartered Surveyor with over 20 years agricultural land management experience in the UK and overseas. He can be contacted on 01962 852122.

3. Details of rape approvals in Canada relate to the activities of the Western Canada Canola and Rapeseed Recommending Committee (WCC/RRC), reported at a workshop meeting of FACTT 11th December 1997.
   
   FACTT (Familiarisation and Acceptance of Crops incorporating Transgenic Technology) is a body funded by the European Commission and partner organisations in the agricultural sector. Plant Genetic Systems (Belgium), a subsidiary of European biotechnology and agro-chemical company AgrEvo, is the co-ordinator of FACTT.   FACTT has a total budget of 3.6 ECU of which 1.6 million is provided by the Commission.
   
   FACTT can be contacted in the UK through Dr Paul Meakin, Home Grown Cereals Authority, 0171 263 3391.

4. Ralph Baumlisberger, Director of the Ontario Canola Growers Association, reported reduced GM oilseed rape yields in the UK's "Farmers Weekly", 10 April 1998 (p.14).

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Will GM crops deliver benefits to farmers? - some realities behind biotechnology myths
Why consumers are concerned about GM foods
Why GM technology in agriculture is flawed
Earlier letter in Farming News on lack of markets for GM crops
GM crops a threat to future viability of farming in Hampshire

Dorset farmers react in support of NLP GM warnings
Natural Law Party campaign to ban genetically modified foods in Wessex 

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