BASF apply to trial GM spuds in the UK

A busy week across the pond.......It looks like BASF have applied for permission to trial their blight resistant GM potatoes in the UK. It is likely they will get permission.

It is good to see that unlike their application in Ireland BASF have given some decent lead in time for their UK application.......in Ireland BASF only applied in January and had hoped to plant in May!!

It will be a little ironic if the blight resistant potatoes get the go ahead in the UK considering it was UK landlords and political establishment that played an important role in the Irish potato famine in the late 1840's. Many agree that the British policies during the Irish Famine, particularly those applied under Lord John Russell were misguided, ill-informed, and disastrous.

As the news of BASF's application hit the newspapers in the UK last week Michael O'Callaghan (from GM Free Ireland) had his somewhat distorted views in the letters pages of The Guardian .

Gaetano Salvemini in his book the Historian and Scientist (- an essay on the nature of history and the social sciences) stated "The historian amputates reality". In reading Michael O'Callaghan's Guardian letter (Aug 25, 2006) outlining BASF's GM potato trial application in Ireland one can only agree.

Mr. O'Callaghan's musings are nothing more than a collection of half truths and spin.

I can only offer a few clarifications. Namely that the Irish Environmental Protection Agency on May 4, 2006 did approve BASF's GM potato trials in Ireland until 2010 with conditions. One of these conditions was that planting had to occur by the end of May. As a result of having only 18 working days to plant BASF decided to postpone their Irish trials for 2006.

Contrary to Mr. O' Callaghan letter, Meath County Council has no legal authority over GM crops and have not issued any notice to BASF requiring "planning permission to rezone the allocated land from agricultural to industrial use". Meath County Council simply stated that there "may be planning issues pertaining to the nature of the development being proposed and that this would be investigated" (Meath Council Minutes, May 8, 2006).

Meath County Council has not formally "threatened to take the case to the Irish high court" as claimed by Mr. O' Callaghan. A previous 1997 High Court case in Ireland attempting to block GM trials failed and trials of GM plants have been carried out in Ireland.

It should be remembered the research trials of the blight resistant GM potatoes now approved for Ireland are one of 200 GM potato trials that have occurred across the EU (under Directive 01/18) from a total of over 1,800 trials of different GM crops. No problems have been reported in any of these regulated trials.

If Michael O'Callaghan truly believes having decisions on GMO taken democratically by local citizens he should at least practice the principle of telling the truth. It's the least local citizens in Ireland or the UK deserve.

.....by the way I can't believe Mayo beat Dublin in Croker today.....along with other Dub fans this is how I feel!

and as I figured Percy Schmeiser never got back to me on this legal threats, oh well!!....maybe he is too busy misleading folks as he did in Ireland