CONTROVERSIAL GM CROP TRIAL DESTROYED

Gordon Darroch
PA News, April 21, 2002

A field of genetically modified crops in the Highlands has been vandalised.

Northern Constabulary said today that a field of genetically modified
(GM) crops at Roskill Farm, Munlochy, Easter Ross, which has sparked a
storm of controversy in the Highlands has been vandalised, with about
five acres of GM oilseed rape destroyed overnight.

Police said they were investigating the matter and appealed for any
witnesses to come forward.

The incident comes just days after a Scottish Parliamentary committee
called for the crop trial, which had just started to flower, to be
ploughed up.

A total of 4,000 protesters based on the Black Isle handed a petition to
the Transport and Environment Committee expressing their opposition to
the crop trial.

A meeting of the committee on Wednesday voted five to four in favour of a
motion by Green MSP Robin Harper calling for an end to the trial.

The vote was a blow for rural development minister Ross Finnie, who told
the committee there was no new evidence of any safety hazards that could
affect GM crop trials in Scotland.

Anthony Jackson, of the Munlochy Vigil which has campaigned against the
oilseed rape trial, said the group had no knowledge of the incident.

He said: "We have no plans for direct action. We are heavily involved in
the political process and that is the way we will continue to operate."