Web version:

  http://www.foe.co.uk/pubsinfo/infoteam/pressrel/2001/20011205162907.html

  Immediate Release:  Wednesday 5 December

  GOVERNMENT TELLS AVENTIS TO TAKE ACTION OVER GM 'WEEDS'

  The Government has finally told biotech giant Aventis to take
  action to stop GM weeds growing without consent in a Lincolnshire
  field.  The GM oilseed rape weeds are now flowering and may
  contaminate non-GM oil seed rape plants and wild relatives in the
  area.  The Government was first alerted to the incident five days
  ago by FOE, and has spent the last 5 days dithering over its
  response.

  Friends of the Earth notified the Government last Friday (30
  November) that GM 'volunteers' [2] are growing at a site used
  earlier in the year in the Government's GM Farm Scale Evaluations
  at Witham-on-the-Hill, near Grantham [1].  Biotech company Aventis
  is legally responsible for ensuring that this doesn't happen.  FOE
  wrote to the Secretary of State, Margaret Beckett, urging her to
  order the immediate destruction of the weeds and to prosecute
  Aventis for breaching their consent to release GMOs.

  Pete Riley, GM Campaigner at Friends of the Earth said:
  These GM weeds pose a threat to the environment and must be
  destroyed.  It is astonishing that the Government has taken so
  long to take any action.  It's little wonder that the public has
  such little confidence in the Government's ability to safegaurd
  the environment from GM pollution.

  These GM plants must be destroyed and the company prosecuted.
  They should also stop the GM industry messing about with our
  countryside and call a moratorium on the growing of GM crops.

  PHOTOGRAPHS OF THE GM OILSEED RAPE WEEDS ARE AVAILABLE FROM
  GUZILIAN PRESS TEL:  EMMA ON 01274 532 300

  [1] Grid reference TF 043 173
  [2] The weeds are re-growth from GM oil seed rape that was grown
  earlier in the year.

  Contact:  Pete Riley    07712 843 211
  Press Office    020 7566 1649