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Wales eyes prohibitive regulations
Posted: Tuesday, June 30, 2009 3:06 pm
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Farmers, landowners and the public are being asked for their views on plans to tighten the rules on the planting of genetically modified crops in Wales. Elin Jones, rural affairs minister, told the BBC that "it is not legally possible to declare Wales GM-free", but that the proposed measures would be more restrictive than those proposed in England and Northern Ireland.

The proposal includes provisions for GM-free zones, banning GM crops in areas like national parks, and strict liability for GM crop growers found to have 'contaminated' a non-GM crop. In addition, GM crops would need to be registered with the assembly government three months before planting. This would make it more convenient for eco-vandals to determine whose crops to destroy.

When Minister Jones first announced the regulatory proposal in February, Labour AM Alun Davies warned they could harm research. "For any government to take such an antagonistic approach to any valid technology is a disappointment in many ways," he said.

Mr. Davies insisted Wales needed to be seen throughout the world as "a place to get things done, where things happen and not a place where we seek to stop things happening and to prevent things being done".

Jones unveiled her regulatory proposal after Breconshire farmer Jonathan Harrington revealed that he and several neighbors grew GM maize in defiance of the Welsh Assembly Government's 'GM-free Wales policy'.

According to Mr. Harrington, the Welsh Assembly Government displays "breathtaking hypocrisy" in its anti-GM stance. He points out that most animal feeds sold in Wales contain GM soy, and that a recent study by the University of Glamorgan found the vast majority of supermarket foods also contain GM material. "To describe Wales as being GM-free is like saying Norfolk is coal-free. It's true there are no coal mills in Norfolk but that's not to say there's no coal there," he says.

Mr. Harrington, who also runs the agricultural consultancy Optima Exel, is being investigated by Powys Trading Standards after revealing his involvement in the field trials of GM maize. Despite the controversy, he says will do the same this year in defiance of government policy -- and that 30 Welsh scientists and farmers who also oppose the policy will join him in conducting more GM trials this summer.

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GMO (noun) 1. An acronym for the term, 'Genetically Modified Organism'. 2. A plant, animal or microbe with a genetic code which has been intentionally altered, such as through forced evolution (see selective breeding); through random mutations induced with radiation or chemicals (see mutagenesis); or through the selective transfer, promoting or silencing of specific genes (see genetic engineering). 3. Most generally, any descendant of a primordial urbiote. (See evolution.)

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