PRESS RELEASE from GM Free Cymru:
EMBARGOED TILL 1am TUESDAY 7th OCTOBER 2003
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GM Maize Trials involved "cynical scientific fraud"
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The watchdog group GM Free Cymru has discovered that the farm-scale trials
of GM maize which have been going on for the last three years have involved
deliberate scientific fraud on the part of the Government. This effectively
means that the monitoring work done by Government-appointed scientists has
been "a complete waste of time."
This discovery brings into question the Government's real intentions in
planning the FSE programme, and comes at an embarrassing time -- just a few
days before the results of the FSE environmental monitoring programme are
due to be published by the Royal Society (1).
It has been widely leaked (2) that the "all clear" for growing GM
maize will
be based on the finding by ecologists that the plots of land growing GM
maize harboured more wildlife than adjacent plots growing conventional
maize. However, it is known that the conventional maize plots were sprayed
with Atrazine, a very dangerous herbicide which is highly toxic to insects
and other animals at the lower end of the food chain. On the other hand,
the GM maize plots were sprayed with the herbicide Liberty (glufosinate
ammonium) just once between planting and harvest, which gave weeds and
insects an opportunity to thrive.
Observers of the trials discovered that farmers were not allowed to follow
their normal farming practices and instincts with respect to the spraying
regime, leading to suspicions that the trials were effectively "fixed"
in
order to maximise weed growth and insect populations on the GM plots.
Ian Panton, a spokesman for GM Free Cymru, said "The trials give no guidance
whatsoever as to the likely effects of growing GM maize commercially in the
dangerous that its use will shortly be discontinued. it is already on the
"banned" list in
on non-GM maize in the future. So we are no further forward in knowing what
the "baseline" ecological effects of growing conventional maize
are.
"Additionally, in
plantings. Instead, the manufacturer's recommended herbicide, used by
some
75% of growers, is Liberty ATZ, in which the proportion of atrazine is 32%.
According to Prof Mike Owen of Iowa State university, the actual percentage
of atrazine used by farmers is closer to 90%. If this herbicide mix
was
ever licenced for use in the
wildlife than the FSE programme suggests (3). The field trial results have
been manipulated. They are utterly worthless and should be dismissed
out of
hand."
GM Free Cymru also says that it was obvious by the year 2000 that Liberty
used on its own was not satisfactory either for the control of "immune"
weeds in GM maize fields or as a broad-spectrum herbocide; and yet, in the
full knowledge that farmers would not use it as the sole herbicide in
British commercial GM crop plantings, the Government approved its use in the
FSE programme (4).
GM Free Cymru says that this disgraceful situation was highlighted by the
BBC Newsnight programme in June 2002, and was also reported in The Times
newspaper, but the concerns raised by the media and by Friends of the Earth
at that time were simply brushed aside by the Government (5) (6) (7) (8).
Finally, GM Free Cymru says that because no yield measurements were made
during the GM maize trials, the design of the experiments was fundamentally
flawed, and the management of the crops was far removed from the real world
situation. Observers of the trials noted that in many cases the GM crops
were stunted and badly affected by weeds, and that yields appeared to be
much lower than in the conventional maize plots (9).
"There is no way that the growers of commercial GM maize would accept
a
significant yield penalty just in order to enjoy an increase in the numbers
of beetles and butterflies on their land," says Mr Panton. "Again,
this
confirms that the GM maize trials have been a waste of everybody's time. It
would be an act of gross irresponsibility and negligence should the
Government seek to authorise the commercialisation of GM maize on the basis
of this cynical and dishonest science." (10)
ENDS
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Further info
Dr Brian John 01239-820470
Tom Latter (mobile) 07831 582 718
Notes:
1. See http://www.defra.gov.uk/news/latest/2003/gmfse.htm
GM crops: the farm-scale evaluations results:
The results of the GM crop farm-scale evaluations will be published on 16
October and will be freely available for all to see on that day. For details
of how the results can be obtained see www.defra.gov.uk/environment/gm/fse
</environment/gm/fse>. This includes details of a free public meeting
on 16
October at which the research team and scientific steering committee will
present the findings.
2. Government prepares to back down over GM crops Exclusive by Severin
Carrell and Geoffrey Lean 05 October 2003 INDEPENDENT ON SUNDAY
http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/environment/story.jsp?story=450143
3. The spread of glufosinate-resistant weeds is a growing problem likely to
make the use of Liberty ATZ almost essential in areas where GM maize has
been grown for several years. American researchers have documented the
emergence since 1996 of heritable glufosinate-resistance in
ryegrass,goosegrass, horsetail and waterhemp in areas of high glufosinate
(Liberty) use. See this:
http://www.weeds.iastate.edu/research/2000/ne/ncs1.pdf
Transcript from Newsnight Programme (see note (6) below):
Susan Watts: "Michael Owen says this combination has now displaced the
original environmentally friendly option for Liberty corn growers."
prof
Mike Owen: "The majority of the farmers see the advantage of having
the
atrazine included in the pre-packaged mix. I don't know the exact
percentage, but I'd say it is easily more than 75%, probably closer to 90%."
NB. The French Government has ordered the removal of all triazene-based
chemicals, including the popular weed killer atrazine, from the market by
the end of September 2002, and the removal of these ingredients from other
products by 30 June 2003. Philip Clarke, Farmers Weekly Interactive,
28 Sep 2001
4. The marketing and packaging materials for Liberty ATZ say that it
is
specifically for use on Bayer Cropscience GM maize. The Aventis Liberty ATZ
Data Sheet was printed on 12/03/2001, ie before the commencement of the GM
maize trials within the British FSE programme. Therefore it must be
concluded that Aventis/Bayer knew prior to 2001 that Liberty would be mixed
with ATZ for commercial plantings, but still applied for the use of unmixed
Liberty in the FSE trials. Advised by its own scientific committees,
the
Government acceded to this request, although the Secretary of State must
have known that in doing this he was personally involved in "a scientific
confidence trick."
5. Article in The Times, 26th June 2002
6. Transcript of BBC 2 - Newsnight - Tuesday 25th June on Atrazine use on
GM Maize at:
http://www.btinternet.com/~nlpwessex/Documents/newsnightGMmaizeatrazine.htm
In the Newsnight report, 25th June 2002, agricultural experts revealed
that between 75% and 90% of US GM maize growers were using a product called
Liberty Atz - a mixture of Aventis' weed killer GA and Atrazine, the
traditional herbicide used on maize crops. Atrazine has been a problem
pesticide for decades, and washes readily into rivers and groundwater. It
is an EU Red List pesticide and is on the EU Priority List for hormone
disrupting effects in animals.
7. See also: The Death of Science
UK Farming Establishment Knowingly Supports Unscientific GM Trials
www.btinternet.com/~nlpwessex/Documents/death-of-science.htm
Blair Increasingly Isolated As BBC Blows The GM Whistle
8. Check out the FoE report on the FSEs
http://www.foe.co.uk/resource/reports/science_smokescreen.pdf
9. Evidence collected by FoE Swindon
10. The Government cannot claim ignorance of the herbicide regime used
in
the GM maize trials. The maize trials were jointly managed by the
Government and SCIMAC, and DETR was also involved in the award of contracts
for the conduct of the trials. The Scientific Steering Committee (SSC)
recommended the sites to be used for the FSE programme, and DETR provided
administrative support. DETR was involved in drawing up the experimental
design to be used by the researchers, and was closely involved in all
aspects of the FSE programme, including the provision of information posted
on the web. The Government also provided the secretariat for ACRE, which
advised on the consents for GM releases into the environment. Officials
knew what was going on, and did nothing.
NB After four years of "Liberty Link" weed control trials
with Liberty and
Liberty ATZ in Texas, the researchers found very poor weed control with
Liberty. They reported in 2000: "In general, Liberty should not
be used as
a stand alone treatment." (Texas Agricultural extension Service, Result
Demonstration report "Weed Control in Liberty Link Corn, 1996-1999"
by Brent
Bean and Matt Rowland.) This advice was known to Aventis / Bayer,
and it
must also have been known to ACRE, ACP and SSC, and to DETR staff. They
all
chose to disregard this advice and to allow the use of unmixed Liberty (GA)
in the maize FSE programme, knowing that this would render the FSE results
worthless.