Isolation distances for GM crops inadequate

   UK: January 14, 2000

   LONDON - Recommended isolation distances governing the release of GMO
   pollen into the environment were inadequate, an independent report
   commissioned by Britain's leading organic farming group, the Soil
   Association, found.

   The report by the National Pollen Research Unit (NPRU) covered pollen
   dispersal in maize, oil seed rape, potatoes, sugar beet and wheat.

   It provided clear evidence of a high risk of contamination from three
   of the five GM crops planned for commercial planting in the U.K., a
   Soil Association release said.

   SCIMAC a farming industry body charged by the government to draw up
   rules governing the release of GM into the environment has recommended
   isolation distances of 200 metres for organic crops and 50 metres for
   non-GM rape seed crops.

   But the NPRU report states that "Oil seed rape presents a high risk
   for cross-pollination between source and recipient fields....pollen
   dispersal has been recorded at up to 4 kilometres by insects and 3
   kilometres by air flow,"

   The report also provides evidence that sugar beet crops present a
   medium to high risk for cross pollination with significant quantities
   recorded at over 800 metres.

   SCIMAC presently proposes to plant hundreds of acres of GM sugar beet
   with only 6 metres between GM crops and conventional varieties, the
   Soil Association said.

   "The present SCIMAC guidelines constitutes little more than the
   framework for a license to pollute," Patrick Holden, Soil Association
   director said.

   He said that a six-mile notification zone should be accepted
   immediately as a precondition for licensing all future GM trial plots.

   REUTERS NEWS SERVICE