EXCERPTS: Frank Corcoran, Chairman of An Taisce (the National Trust for Ireland), said the Meath Co. Council decisions will trigger a lengthy legal procedure that will effectively prevent the release of GMO crops in Meath for the foreseeable future.

"Irish farmers join with Irish consumers in saying we will not stand idly by and watch the green clean GM-free image which helps sell Irish food be destroyed by the commercial colonisation of BASF."
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GMO crop experiment cancelled
http://www.gmfreeireland.org/index.php

Meath Co. Council unanimously passed two motions on Monday 8 May, that are widely expected to force the world's largest chemicals company BASF to abandon a controversial experiment with patented GMO potatoes which it hoped to launch this week at Summerhill, Co. Meath.

The Council's first motion declares Meath a GMO-free zone. This makes Meath the sixth county on the island to prohibit GMO seeds and crops, along with Cavan, Clare, Fermanagh, Monaghan and Roscommon, and the towns of Galway, Navan, Newry and Clonakilty. The Council's second motion calls on the EPA to not allow the experimental growing of any GMO seeds or crops in Ireland. Councillors said the EPA's decision would produce experimental transgenic potatoes that could not be placed on the market either as animal feed or food, and that the EPA and BASF failed to apply for the planning permission that is consequently required by law for re-zoning the farmland from agricultural to development use.

They also said the legal requirement imposed by the EPA for BASF to protect the site with a high-security electrical fence does not conform with normal agricultural practice under Section 5 of the Planning Act. Frank Corcoran, Chairman of An Taisce (the National Trust for Ireland), said the Meath Co. Council decisions will trigger a lengthy legal procedure that will effectively prevent the release of GMO crops in Meath for the foreseeable future.

Farmers, food producers, chefs and consumers around Europe celebrated the decision as a victory for common sense and local democracy. GM-free Ireland Network co-ordinator Michael O'Callaghan said "Meath Co. Council has shown the wisdom of the subsidiarity principle, whereby political decisions on GM farming are best taken democratically at the local level by the farmers and citizens who will be affected by them, rather than by unaccountable bureaucrats in Dublin, the European Commission in Brussels, and the WTO in Geneva. Commenting from Berlin, Benedikt Haerlin, who organises the annual European GMO-free Regions conference, said the EC's policy to force member states and regions to accept contamination of agricultural seeds and crops by GMOs is fundamentally and legally flawed. "We welcome Co. Meath's initative which is backed by 175 regions and 3,500 local authorities in 22 EU member states" he said.

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Press conference 10am Wednesday 10 May at European Commission Office, Dublin

The GM-free Ireland Network will host a press conference at the European Commission Office in Dublin at 10 am tomorrow (Wednesday 10 May), kicking off a series of European Day debates in the D·il, including a speech by EC Agriculture and Rural Development Commissioner Mariann Fischer-Boel.

Politicians at the press conference will call for the whole island of Ireland to be declared a GMO-free biosphere reserve for the food security of other EU member states, and demand EU legislation that recognises the democratic right of member states and regions to prohibit GMO seeds and crops if they choose to do so.

Confirmed speakers include Kathy Sinnott MEP (Independent), Marian Harkin MEP (Independent), Green Party leader Trevor Sargent TD, Mary Upton TD (Labour Party spokesperson on Agriculture and Food), Michael Mulcahy TD (Fianna Fail - Government Convener on the Joint Oireachtas Committee on European Affairs and former Lord Mayor of Dublin), Eddie Punch (General Secretary of the Irish Cattle and Sheepfarmers Association), and Michael O'Callaghan of GM-free Ireland. Senator James Bannon (Fine Gael Spokesperson on Environment, Local Government and Heritage in the Upper House and General Secretary of the Local Authority Members Association) may also attend.

Growing support for local farmers

100 businesses and organisations representing over 32,000 Irish farmers, food producers, food exporters, restaurants, chefs, doctors, environmental groups and consumers have expressed support for local farmers opposed to the GMO potato experiment in Co. Meath.

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Sargent calls on Govt to respect Meath Council decision to declare county as GM free zone
Green Party press release, 8 May 2006 http://www.gmfreeireland.org/news/index.php

Green Party Leader Trevor Sargent TD today congratulated Meath County Council on its unanimous decision to declare the county a GM free zone. Last Friday 5 May 2006 the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) gave the green light to German chemical company BASF to carry out a GM potato growing trial at Summerhill, Co Meath.

Deputy Sargent said today that, "The unanimous decision by Meath County Council to declare the county a GM free zone highlights the irrational and undemocratic nature of the EPA decision to permit a GM potato growing trial in Ireland.

"I have spoken to a number of farmers from Meath and my own neighbouring Dublin North constituency who are furious at the EPA for going along with this BASF plan to grow GM potatoes in Ireland. Irish farmers join with Irish consumers in saying we will not stand idly by and watch the green clean GM-free image which helps sell Irish food be destroyed by the commercial colonisation of BASF.

"This Meath County Council decision gives a renewed democratic mandate to this campaign - which the Green Party fully supports - to ensure that Irish agriculture can develop and thrive as green, clean and GM free - as consumers are demanding."

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