Large genetic engineering test closes

From: Tim Tyler (tim_at_tt1lock.org)
Date: 03/22/05 

Date: Tue, 22 Mar 2005 11:24:31 -0500 (EST)

http://msnbc.msn.com/id/7258154/

...reports on "The world?s biggest study on the impact of genetically
modified crops on wildlife".

The page says it:

"found birds and bees are more likely to thrive in fields of natural
 rapeseed than modified seed but the difference is not due to genetic
 engineering, scientists said Monday."

It goes on to say:

``In October 2003, the same government trials found that engineered sugar
  beet spraying was significantly more damaging to the environment than
  the management of conventional varieties.

  They also concluded that gene-spliced, spring-sown rapeseed may also
  have a negative impact on wildlife, while engineered feed corn did not.

  The biotech lobby insist the crops are safe.

  ?GM crops offer a better, more flexible weed management option for
  farmers and, as the results today indicate, the difference between the
  impact of growing GM and non-GM crops on biodiversity is minimal,? said
  Tony Combes, deputy chairman of the Agricultural Biotechnology Council,
  which represents biotech firms like Monsanto and Syngenta.

  Green groups, however, were aghast.

  ?These results are yet another major blow to the biotech industry.
  Growing GM winter oilseed rape would have a negative impact on farmland
  wildlife,? Friends of the Earth campaigner Clare Oxborrow said.

  Despite optimism from proponents of the technology, and the fact that
  the United States has embraced it, engineered crops seem a long way off
  in Britain.''

 - http://msnbc.msn.com/id/7258154/

The study was plastered on the front of UK newspapers as
"the last nail in the genetic engineering coffin" :-( 

-- 
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