December 30, 2002 

Government denies burying GM report
by pa news
 
  
Michael Meacher, the Environment Minister, today denied trying to "bury" a 
report into GM crop cross-contamination. 

The study, which was issued on Christmas Eve, found that GM crops do 
contaminate plants in neighbouring fields. 

Anti-GM campaigners have claimed the information proved there was no 
commercial future for GM foods in the UK. 

Mr Meacher told the BBC: "We weren’t trying to bury it. I entirely agree 
that the Christmas Eve timing was unfortunate ... 

"I can assure you there is no wish to conceal. It is another case, as is so 
often the case, of cock-up rather than conspiracy." 

Mr Meacher said he had not known the report would be published on Christmas 
Eve, the only day of the year when newspapers were not produced for the 
following day, adding: "The Kremlinologists are going to have a field day 
about this." 

However Mr Meacher denied the study, which goes back to 1994 and was finished 
in 2000, disclosed any new information. "The fact is this information has 
been known since the early 1990s," he said. 

"These findings are not new, they simply confirm what was already known." 

The minister said: "You can’t eliminate cross-contamination, you can only 
minimise it, and try to keep it below a level which is acceptable to the 
public if they are going to buy the product." 

The research found that the weed wild turnip was affected by gene flow when 
planted next to GM oilseed rape, prompting fears that it could become 
resistant to herbicides.

Further research on cross-contamination will be revealed by the Farm Scale 
Evaluations, the final results of which will be published in early 2004.