Genetically-Manipulated Pollen Found Miles From Crop Site
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1. GM CROPS: GENETIC POLLUTION PROVED. GM Pollen Found Miles from Trial
Site
STRICTLY EMBARGOED:10.30PM Wednesday 29th September 1999
GM CROPS: GENETIC POLLUTION PROVED GM Pollen Found Miles from Trial Site
Government policy on GM food and crops suffered another shattering blow
today after GM oilseed rape pollen was found by scientists four and a
half kilometres from an official farm scale trial site [1]. The
Government's rules for the farm scale trials require only a 50 metre
separation distance between GM crops and other fields [2]. These are the
first monitoring results of GM pollen from a farm scale trial. They show
GM pollen at distances further than ever previously detected and shows
the scale of the threat the trials pose to non-GM crops, beekeepers and
the wider environment [3].
The errant GM pollen was found during a GM monitoring and analysis
programme organised by Friends of the Earth and Newsnight, around Model
Farm, near Watlington, Oxfordshire. The monitoring was carried out by
the National Pollen Research Unit and a bee specialist, and the GM
analysis was carried out by the Federal Environment Agency in Austria.
These disturbing results will severely embarrass the Government on the
day of the environment debate at the Labour Party conference. Earlier
this month the Government was forced to admit that trials of winter
oilseed rape are illegal, after a Court challenge by Friends of the
Earth showed that the rules governing consent for such trials had been
broken to suit the convenience of biotech giant AgrEvo.
The study, which looked at pollen carried by bees and in the air showed
that:
- All six bee hives monitored - located at between 500 metres
and 4.5 kilometres [2.8 miles] from the GM crop - were found to contain GM
oilseed rape [canola] pollen [3];
- Airborne GM pollen was detected at up to 475 metres [1,558 feet]
from the trial site [4].
Charles Secrett, Executive Director of Friends of the Earth, said:
"This study shows that genetic pollution from the farm scale trials is
already happening. Earlier this month we forced the Government to admit
that the new farm scale trials are illegal. This week, we have shown
that all the current GM trials threaten local farmers, beekeepers and
the environment. This must be the death blow for the whole GM trials
programme. Let Tony Blair use the Labour Party conference to announce
that it will now be stopped. Nothing less will reassure the public that
the Government gives a hoot about the environmental safety of GM food
and crops.2
- ENDS-
NOTES TO EDITORS
[1] Friends of the Earth contracted the National Pollen Research
Unit at University College, Worcester to monitor airborne pollen on
roads and public rights of way around the farm scale trial for spring
oilseed rape
at Model Farm, Pirton, Near Watlington, Oxfordshire in June and July
1999. Access problems (the farmer owned most of the land in the
vicinity) meant that permanent monitoring sites could not be set up and
therefore spot samples were used. See attached summary.
Pollen traps were placed on six bee hives sited in the area of the farm
scale trial in June and July 1999. Two were 500 metres from the crop,
two were 2.75 kilometres from the crop and two were 4.5 km. The pollen
was collected and analysed by a bee and honey consultant , Sarah
Brookes, of Evesham, Worcestershire.
Newsnight sent six samples of airborne pollen and 6 of beehive pollen
were sent to the laboratory of the Federal Environment Agency in Austria
for DNA analysis. All six beehive samples were found to contain GM
oilseed rape pollen from an AgrEvo variety and 2 out of 6 airborne
samples.
[2] The Supply Chain Initiative on the Modified Agricultural Crops
(SCIMAC) code of practice for growing GM herbicide resistant crops has
been endorsed by the UK Government. The maximum separation distance for
GM oilseed crops and conventional crops is 50m. For seed crops and
organic crops the recommended distance is 200m.
[3] Research by the Scottish Crop Research Institute reported at the
Gene Flow in Agriculture: Revelence for Transgeneic Crops Conference,
Keele University April 1999 (British Crop Protection Council Symposium
Proceedings No 72) reported oilseed rape pollen at 4km from a field of
oilseed rape.
Copyright © Friends of the Earth
Gene escape:
Prof Alan Gray [current Chairman of the UK's GMO release committee,
ACRE] recently said:
>Plant breeders separated crops by a given distance to reduce "gene flow"
>to ensure 99.9 per cent pure varieties and there was no reason for GM
>crops to be treated differently.
Even before this recent National Pollen Research Unit research, Gray's
statement seemed very surprising in the light of 2 notable UK reports
this year, one commissioned by the Gorvernment, both casting doubt on
the adequacy of these 30-year-old separation distances. These are:
A Report on the Dispersal of Maize Pollen
http://www.soilassociation.org/SA/SAWebDoc.nsf/bdedfca988b2db3c85256207004f45a9`
http://www.soilassociation.org/SA/SAWebDoc.nsf/bdedfca988b2db3c85256207004f45a9/f7831ab0223a763e80256728005af3bd?OpenDocument
ORGANIC FARMING AND GENE TRANSFER FROM GENETICALLY MODIFIED CROPS
Catherine L. Moyes and Philip J. Dale, John Innes Centre
http://www.gmissues.org/orgreport/gmissues[1].htm
The following comments from Prof Phil Regal on an article posted on the
IATP list also seem germane:
Mark, I don't know how to get back to this reporter, but just for the
record, in case the pollen flow issue comes up again, I had warned
about this at conferences since at least 1989, as I recall. I warned at
scientific workshops and in publications that the industry and its
allies in government had better review seed purity standards because
these had been based on old-fashioned scientific assumptions and on
narrow practical goals that would not apply in the case of genetically
engineered organisms as they would soon be used.
[See 1990 publication in my bibliography through my URL below: "Gene
flow and adaptability in transgenic agricultural organisms." Note also
that I analysed scientific knowledge of pollen travel distances
extensively in a review paper in 1982: "Pollination by wind and
animals: Ecology of geographic patterns. Ann. Rev. Ecol. Syst.
13:492-524, before I had ever imagined that I would get involved in
biotech matters.]
It is true that, on average, wind-carried pollen does not travel very
far. But this simply means that pollen settles out and the concentration
dilutes rapidly in still air. Biologically effective travel distances in
actuality vary enormously depending on the size of the source (e.g.
number of acres of corn fields) and direction and speed of winds. Pollen
from large fields will thus be able to pollinate over great distances
even in relatively still air because there is so much pollen to begin
with to settle out and dilute. If the wind is blowing in the right
direction, the distances then can be even more greatly increased. One
can think of the lone pine tree out on a rock in an ocean or large lake
miles from other pine trees, it will often get pollinated because there
are so many pine trees as a source and because of favorable winds.
Somehow I doubt that the agronomist knows much about this subject, if he
was quoted correctly, because agronomists have generally gone with
conventional wisdom on pollination rather than on up-to-date scientific
knowledge.For most of their needs the old ideas have been good enough.
Philip J. Regal
Professor
EEB Department
1987 Upper Buford Circle
University of Minnesota
St. Paul, Minnesota 55108
Home webpage:
http://biosci.umn.edu/~pregal/phil.html
Direct to biosafety webpage:
http://biosci.umn.edu/~pregal/biosafety.html
http://www.soyinfo.com/haz/travel.shtml