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WHY WON'T PRESCOTT ANSWER OUR GM QUESTIONS?

Nottingham

Nottingham FOE's first letter to DETR

On 5 March 1999, Monsanto announced that they would be planting GM sugar beet on a farm near Ruddington, Notts. Nottingham FOE sent the following questions on 18 March 1999 to the Secretary of State for Environment, Transport and Regions, John Prescott. DETR responded in a letter dated 2 July which was received late July. The right hand column summarises answers to these questions.

Questions asked 18/3/99

Answers given 2/7/99

A1) Will you require Monsanto to compensate farmers who may in the future suffer reduced yields caused by herbicide resistant "weedy beet"? (NO ANSWER)
A2) Will you allow Monsanto to prosecute farmers whose crops are contaminated by Monsanto genes? (NO ANSWER)
A3) Why are you giving the go-ahead for sugar beet experiments when British Sugar have said they will not take GM beet? "We cannot comment on the attitude of individual companies and the matters you raise are for the markets to resolve."
B1) Will you require that GM food is proven to be free from modified proteins which may cause allergies (possibly in just a small percentage of the population) before allowing human feeding trials? "Questions of food testing for allergens should be addressed to the Ministry for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food"
B2) Will you require that GM food is proven to be free from prions (deformed proteins) before it can be fed to humans or animals? "Prions are not used in any genetic modifications of GM crops and it is therefore not necessary to test for them."
B3) The gene modification process typically involves the use of an antibiotic marker' which is used to concentrate the GM product. Can you please let us have details of experiments which have demonstrated to your satisfaction that these antibiotics will not have an adverse effect on wildlife or humans. (NO EXPERIMENTS CITED)
B4) GM crops typically incorporate a cauliflower mosaic virus, or similar mechanism, to switch on the modified genes. Can you please let us have details of experiments which have demonstrated to your satisfaction that these viruses will not contaminate wild plants or other crops. (NO EXPERIMENTS CITED)
Can you please give assurances that:
C1) Monsanto will not be allowed to plant any GM crops in Ruddington until they have submitted details to public scrutiny showing:
(a) how surrounding crops and wildlife will be protected from contamination;
(b) how concerns such as those stated in B above will be addressed;
(c) how farmers will be compensated if cross contamination occurs.
(NO ASSURANCE GIVEN)
C2) Your department will ensure that, in future, public notices are backed up by relevant information being actually available to the public, and that you are not presiding over the sort of shambles that we have experienced in this case. (NO ASSURANCE GIVEN)

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NFOE letter 1

NFOE letter 2

NFOE letter 3

DETR reply


Last updated: 30 July 1999