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Non-GM spuds planted at test site in protest (21/4/2007)

1.HONEY FEARS MAY SCUPPER GM POTATO TRIAL
2.Non GM Potatoes planted at Hedon test site in protest
3.BREAKING NEWS: PROTEST MARCH OVER GM CROPS TRIAL
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1.HONEY FEARS MAY SCUPPER GM POTATO TRIAL
Press release, April 21 2007

The farmer due to grow an experimental GM potato trial in East Yorkshire may pull out because of the impact that the trial might have on neighbouring crops [1]. The revelation comes as the Government consultation for the GM trial by biotech firm BASF, closes and campaigners hold a protest rally and GM-free potato picnic today (Saturday) [2].

Farmers near the East Yorkshire trial farm are concerned about the threat that the GM potato trial poses to their borage crops. Borage is a high value crop grown to produce starflower oil for health food supplements and skincare products.

But local borage growers fear massive financial losses if the GM trial goes ahead because beekeepers (whose bees are vital to help pollinate the borage crop and produce speciality borage honey) do not want to bring their hives into the fields for fear that their honey will be contaminated. One borage farmer alone estimates that this could result in a GBP50,000 loss. Companies like Rowse Honey and Sainsbury's require beekeepers supplying them with honey to place their hives at least six miles away from any trial site [3].

The GM potato trial [4] has faced intense local opposition. Both East Riding District Council and Hedon Town council have voted against the trials. And local MP Graham Stuart, who supports the borage farmers, believes that BASF's proposals had been rushed and that the trial shouldn't go ahead this year. Furhermore, a local petition against the trial has attracted hundreds of signatures.

The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs public consultation on the trial closed yesterday (Friday) [5]. Campaigners do not hold much hope that it will be rejected, despite strong opposition, because Environment Secretary David Miliband personally approved trials for the same crop in Cambridge last year.

Friends of the Earth's GM Campaigner, Clare Oxborrow said:

"BASF was so desperate to get its GM potatoes in the ground that it neglected to consult with the local community and failed to realise the impact that this trial would have on nearby borage growers. The farmer due to host the trial is rightly concerned about the impacts on neighbouring farmers. He should pull out and the trial should be scrapped.

If this trial goes ahead it will not only risk a huge financial blow for farmers, but also threatens to contaminate future non-GM potato supplies. Conventional breeding already produces blight-resistant potato varieties. There are too many risks and costs involved in trialing this product that no-one wants."

Notes:

[1] The farmer due to host the BASF trial farms land on the Preston/Hedon border but lives over 10 miles away in Welwick. He has not yet signed the contract to conduct the trial. http://www.holderness-gazette.co.uk/artgmpotatotrials.htm

[2] For more information about the rally and GM free picnic see http://www.mutatoes.org/

[3] http://www.defra.gov.uk/hort/Bees/meet06.htm
http://www.j-sainsbury.com/files/reports/cr2005/index.asp?pageid=52

[4] BASF plans trials of blight resistant GM potatoes at two sites in the UK, Cambridge (which already has Government approval) and Hedon/Preston, East Riding of Yorkshire. Plans for the same trials in Ireland were abandoned because the Irish Government imposed tough conditions on the trial. The conditions imposed by Defra are much weaker, making it easier and cheaper for BASF to go ahead with trials in England www.gmfreeze.org/page.asp?id=309&iType=1079

[5] http://www.defra.gov.uk/environment/gm/regulation/applications/07r4201.htm

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2.Non GM Potatoes planted at Hedon test site
Taken from
http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2007/04/368382.html

spud planter , 21.04.2007 16:24

Protesters are planting non-GM potatoes in the field near Hull where BASF intend to trial their GM potato variety. About 100 protesters are spread across the large (several acre) field, with two mounted police and 2 foot police standing by watching - not even filming, for once.

Update: 2 cops on off road motorcycles have entered the field.

150 people attended the protest in Hull to listen to speeches and enjoy a GM free potato picnic - some food provided by Veggies of Nottingham and music provided by Seize the Day (among others).

People are attending from around the country, including Cambridge (where the other trial is) and from as far as Brighton and Bristol.

Photos will follow.

http://www.mutatoes.org/
http://www.hedonagainstgm.org.uk/
http://www.cambridgeaction.net/gmconcern
http://www.myspace.com/gmfreepotatoes

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Taken from http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2007/04/368383.html

farmer cartright , 21.04.2007

...as the picnic began, seed potatoes were distributed and everyone headed into the field and started planting...

the handful of police present watched on but did not intervene as the field was rendered usless for any scientific trial of potatoes. but it was never really about testing potatoes, it was a trial of public commitment to keeping this country GM free. there is no doubt that the public have demonstrated their strenght of will.

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3.BREAKING NEWS: PROTEST MARCH OVER GM CROPS TRIAL
Hull Daily Mail, 21 April 2007

http://www.thisishull.co.uk/displayNode.jsp?nodeId=136242&command=displayContent&sourceNode=228411&home=yes&more_nodeId1=136251&contentPK=17153942

Protestors have made an 11th hour appeal to an East Yorkshire farmer to ditch a controversial crop trial.

More than 150 objectors joined a rally and march this afternoon to urge farmer Michael Wilkin to abandon plans to test genetically modified (GM) potatoes on his land.

Green campaigners met at Preston Road Community Centre, in east Hull, before marching to the trial site in Preston.

The marchers carried placards and banners amid a strong police presence to ensure the protest passed off peacefully.

Mr Wilkin, of Humber Lane, Welwick, has agreed to lease a hectare of land for testing on blight-resistant potatoes.

German firm BASF Plant Science approached him after Derbyshire farmer pulled out of the same trial.

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