County escapes one threat of GM trials (From Western Telegraph)

County escapes one threat of GM trials

PEMBROKESHIRE has again escaped the threat of genetically modified crop planting - but all that could change next month.

The Government announced on Thursday that no trials of GM oilseed rape and beet will take place in Pembrokeshire this spring.

Proposed sites for GM maize crops - the subject of huge protest action last spring - have yet to be announced though.

These will be revealed next month and anti-GM campaigners warn that the county must not drop its guard.

Plans to plant two trial crops of forage maize at Castle Cenlas, Mathry, were abandoned last May by Tory MP Tony Marlow and his business partner, Jill Chambers, following protest action by the community.

Thursdays decision comes hot on the heels of a recent report revealing a worldwide explosion in genetically modified planting. Land covering 130 million acres worldwide is planted with GM crops - an area twice the size of the United Kingdom.

Last year, planting increased by 20% and in many of the 13 countries which have given GM growing the go-ahead, genetically altered crops are now dominant.

Opponents have welcomed Thursdays decision because they believe GM crops are unsafe and suggest trials are not being carried out in a sensible way. No farm trials will be carried out in Wales, but 44 sites in England and Scotland are to be used for the final 12 months of the three-year trial period.

Euro MP Jill Evans, who played a prominent role in last years anti-GM campaign, says the focus must now turn to the proposed sites for GM maize crops.

It was made perfectly clear last year that the public do not want any GM crop trials in Wales, she says.

We hope that the Labour Government has listened and that they will decide against holding any trials here this year.