http://gefoodalert.org/News/news.cfm?News_ID=3094

 Scottish Nationalists Demand Halt to GM Trials

 The Scotsman | By John Ross | January 8, 2002

 The SNP yesterday called for an immediate moratorium on
 genetically-modified crop trials in Scotland after the party backed
 protesters holding a vigil at a trial site in the
 Highlands.

 Bruce Crawford, the party's shadow environment minister, and Fiona
 McLeod, his deputy, signed a 3,500-name petition against the crop
 trials which campaigners are to send to the Scottish executive's
 petitions committee.

 Mr Crawford called on Ross Finnie, the rural development minister,
 to use his powers to end GM trials in Scotland. Speaking at the
 vigil at Munlochy in the Black Isle he said: "He (Mr Finnie) has
 complete legislative competence to say yes or no to these things
 and he should have said no in the beginning. He did not but there
 is still time for him to change his mind before this particular crop
 gets near pollination.

 "Not only should he be saying no to this now, but he should be
 introducing an immediate moratorium for the whole of Scotland. He
 has been hiding from these powers up until now."

 Mr Crawford also said Mr Finnie's stance is at odds with his
 recent comments during a speech in Oxford when he spoke of the
 need for an environmentally friendly agriculture industry in Scotland.

 "That hardly squares with what is happening here in Munlochy or in
 other GM crop trial areas in Scotland. If he is serious about his
 environmental credentials there is only one direction he can go in
 and that would be to say no more GM crop trials in Scotland."

 Anthony Jackson, one of the campaigners manning the vigil, claimed
 cross -party support for the petition and said there was no doubt
 about the public opposition to GM trials.

 He said a recent EC survey of 16,000 consumers showed that 78 per
 cent did not want to eat GM food. "It is time that the gravity of
 the situation is recognised by the executive", he said.

 A Scottish executive spokesman said: "These trials will provide us
 with the factual information to take decisions on the future of GM
 crops in this country based upon sound science.

 "The crops to be grown in trials have passed all the safety tests
 and satisfied the experts that they do not pose a threat to the
 environment.

 "Ministers would not have permitted the trials to proceed if there
 was any doubt whatsoever about the safety of the crop involved.
 No-one has presented any evidence to suggest that the crop is not
 safe to either the environment or human health."

 The protest vigil was set up at Munlochy last August after Ross
 Finnie announced a second GM crop trial on farmer Jamie Grant's
 land. Campaigners have since kept a presence there on land owned
 by Highland Council.

 In October, Mr Finnie asked the council to remove the camp,
 claiming that campaigners were harassing the farmer. However, in
 November the authority gave permission for the camp to remain for
 another eight months.