World’s largest GM trials find farms and wildlife devastated - 23 March 2005

The NSW Government must ban any further trials of genetically-modified (GM) crops, following the results of the largest study ever conducted which found they damage the farm environment and can harm wildlife, Greens MLC Ian Cohen said today.


“The use of powerful weedkillers on GM crops is having a devastating effect on soil and on wildlife. The biotech industry can no longer hide behind its rhetoric of GM’s so-called benefits.


“The NSW Government has a duty of care to act to protect not just the environment but our farmers as well. It cannot ignore the findings of this authoritative study.”


The four-year study involved four major farm-scale trials overseen by Britain's Environment and Rural Affairs Ministry's Scientific Steering Committee. The trials took four years to conduct, involved the collection of one million weeds and two million bugs, and cost about £6 million ($15 million).


The final trial in the study compared GM winter-sown canola to its conventional non-GM equivalent.


“The trials show that a GM crop would speed up the decline of farmland wildlife, especially plants and birds,” Mr Cohen said.


“Agriculture Minister Ian MacDonald cannot now sit by and do nothing. The evidence is damning and the government must act to protect NSW farms from disaster.”


Further Information: Paul Sheridan, 0410 516 656