The Times 3 October 2000

GM fodder firm will not give evidence

BY VALERIE ELLIOTT, COUNTRYSIDE EDITOR

THE biotechnology company which wants to sell GM fodder maize in
Britain astonished environmental groups last night by refusing to give
evidence at a public hearing on the issue.

Aventis, which has applied for a licence to sell GM fodder maize seeds
to farmers, yesterday informed the first meeting of the ten-week hearing
that it had no plans to call any witnesses to support its case.

Anti-GM campaigners said that the move was farcical and accused
Aventis of "keeping the public in the dark" on GM crops. They vowed to
put pressure on the company to change its mind.

During procedural discussions yesterday the hearing chairman, Alun
Alesbury, a senior planning barrister, reacted angrily when he was told
of Aventis's stance by Joel Smith, the firm's legal representative.

He said: "Your client's stance is not helpful to the proceedings at all.
It does not make for a balanced set of proceedings and does not facilitate
them."

He persistently questioned Mr Smith on the matter and asked him to
reconsider. Aventis stood its ground.

A spokesman for the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds said: "We
want to see Aventis forced to co-operate with the hearing and to put
forward witnesses. It is a disgraceful position deliberately intended to
keep the public in the dark."

Adrian Bebb, of Friends of the Earth, added: "Why should the public
have any faith in their GM products if they are not prepared to stand up
and argue for them?"

Yesterday's public hearing at the Novotel Hammersmith in West London
took place only because Nick Brown, the Minister for Agriculture, gained
the backing of agriculture ministers in the territorial departments to
approve the commercial licence for the seed known as Chardon LL in
advance of the outcome of the Government's own farm-scale GM trials.

Some 67 witnesses, including pensioners, parents, beekeepers, organic
farmers and the main environmental groups, have each paid #163#90 to lodge
their objections to the go-ahead for the commercial planting of Chardon
LL.

The hearing is to resume today with objectors giving opening statements
on behalf of their witnesses.

Environmental campaigners also staged a protest before the start of the
hearing speaking against adding the GM fodder maize seed to the National
Seed list before the completion of the Government's farm-scale trials.

Ken Beagley, an amateur beekeeper from Harberton, Devon, who is to
represent four national bee-keeping organisations, said last night that
there had been insufficient research into the potential damage to the
environment, public health and bee-keeping. "It's all happening too
quickly. Not enough research has been done and there's not been enough
consultation with beekeepers."

The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds is a member of the
scientific steering committee which is overseeing the farm-scale trials and is
worried that GM crops will pose another threat to farmland birds.

Mr Alesbury will compile a detailed report of the submissions but not
make a recommendation. Ministers will make the final decision.

Last night a spokesman for Aventis said that the company was fully
committed to the public hearing but that it had decided against calling
any expert witnesses to support its case for Chardon LL as all relevant data
and reports were already in the public domain.