1.Online petition against GM potatoes in Ireland
2.Hundreds attend anti-GM foods protest outside Dail
3.GM potato trials 'will ruin local agriculture'
EXCERPT: "The people and wildlife of Ireland should not be exposed to inadequately tested genetic constructions," said the Emeritus Professor of Genetics at the University of Western Ontario. (item 3)
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1.Online petition against GM potatoes in Ireland
Sign the petition against the imminent field-testing of GM potatoes at or near the Teagasc Grange Research Centre at Arodstown, Summerhill, Co. Meath. The location is near the Hill of Tara in the Boyne Valley, one of the oldest cultivated sites in the world.
Go to http://gmfreeireland.org/action/index.php
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2.Hundreds attend anti-GM foods protest outside Dail
Unison, February 22nd 2006
Hundreds of people have mounted a demonstration outside the Dail today to protest against plans to plant genetically modified potatoes in Co Meath.
The German chemical firm BASF has applied for permission to plant a crop of blight-resistant GM potatoes as part of a five-year experiment at a Teagasc research centre in Summerhill
Politicians from across the political divide were in attendance at today's protest, along with farmers, consumers groups and green campaigners.
Eddie Punch from the Irish Cattle and Sheep Farmers Association said he and his colleagues were taking part because they believed Ireland should be able to market its food as natural and GM-free.
"If we go down the GM road, we will compromise irrevocably our ability to sell to premium European markets [and] to the maximum number of consumers," he said.
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3.GM potato trials 'will ruin local agriculture'
Ireland Online, 22/02/2006
http://www.unison.ie/breakingnews/index.php3?ca=9&si=87434
Trials for genetically modified potatoes in Co Meath will ruin agriculture in the area, it was claimed today.
Farmers, food producers and consumers held a demo outside the Dail against the proposed five-year BASF Plant Science project in Summerhill.
The picket called for the Government to ban genetically modified (GM) crops in Ireland.
Today is the deadline set by the Environmental Protection Agency for public submissions on the proposal which will be sited near the Hill of Tara in the Boyne Valley.
The experiment is due to begin in April and continue until October 2010.
John Flynn, rural development chairman of the Irish Cattle and Sheepfarmers Association (ICSA) said today: "Ireland has a very marketable clean, green image, and it is essential to maintain and develop that.
"Trials like this are totally counterproductive, and very damaging to that image.
"The ICSA will never allow huge commercial interests like BASF to come into Ireland and ruin the agricultural sector."
Canadian expert Prof Joe Cummins claims the GM experiment presents a clear risk of contaminating conventional and organic Irish potatoes.
"The people and wildlife of Ireland should not be exposed to inadequately tested genetic constructions," said the Emeritus Professor of Genetics at the University of Western Ontario.
Prof Cummins accused BASF of making specious assumptions that could also produce toxic effects on humans and wildlife.
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