Ireland Gives Go-Ahead for GMO Potato Trials
Date: 08-May-06
Country: IRELAND
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) gave its consent to BASF Plant Science GmbH on Friday to carry out field trials on potatoes that have been modified with improved resistance to late potato blight, the disease that caused the Irish potato famine.
"This consent is for field trials only and should not be confused with the placing of GM products on the market, which requires a separate consent and approval process at EU level," the EPA said in a statement.
"Potatoes (GM or non-GM) harvested from the field trials will not be used for food or feed purposes," it added.
One million people died and two million were forced to leave Ireland in the 1840s when potato blight caused widespread famine. Today, the Irish eat some 121 kg of potatoes per person every year, or nearly 1,000 potatoes for every man, woman and child.
Previous trials of GMO foods in Ireland have been disrupted by environmentalists who pulled up crops and damaged fields.
GM-free Ireland, an organisation campaigning against genetic food engineering, invited farmers, food producers, consumers, and politicians to an emergency meeting on Friday to decide what legal steps it could take to prevent the experiment.
Irish Green Party leader Trevor Sargent said the decision threatened the country's traditional GMO-free status which he said was a key selling point for the country's food exporters.
"Life is hard enough for farmers who are seeing less and less demand for potatoes and a growing preference for ready made meals," he said. "Farmers need this GM trial like a hole in the head."
Blight-resistant GMO potatoes were first developed in 2003 after scientists discovered a species of wild potato in Mexico that is naturally resistant to the disease, then inserted the gene into commercial strains.
The field trials will be carried out at one location at County Meath and the trial site will not exceed 1 hectare (2.5 acres) in size. The experiment will last for five years from 2006 to 2010 (inclusive), with monitoring continuing until 2014.