GM potato trials

[Daisy's Mum]

here we go again eh!?

Have some not so fond memories of the GM wheat trials (my first ever brush with the fuzz, when I was just a wee slip of a girl!) that they held in my area a few years ago now, and I honestly thought that judging from the reception that they got then that they would have realised that people just don't want large scale trials. I understand their motives for wanting to do them but I don't think that we truely know well enough what impact it is going to have on the local environment.

Am I guessing right that it is a forgone conclusion what others opinions on this will be or will I be surprised by the rebels amongst us out there?

Lorna x

[PurpleDragon]

They were doing GM tattie trials in Fife about 7 years ago.

[Martin]

I trust eveyone living nearby have their wellies, trowels and balaclavas ready!
I actually heard some weasel words from a gm apologist daring to say "it has to go ahead, so that the public have a choice" - totally neglecting to mention that it automatically removes the ability of anyone to enjoy untainted organic produce grown anywhere near this vile muck!

[pskipper]

Just wondering whether the plants they are growing set viable pollen? A lot of GM crop research is done with plants that can't spread their genes, of course that wouldn't make as good a news story so the press don't bother to mention it!

[Welsh Girls Allotment]

leave things alone - animals cells in potatoes in just not right grrrr

[Andy Hamilton]

So we have until spring to set up an attack force.

[pskipper]

I've been looking into this, it turns out that they have transfered a gene from a blight resistant potato into a non-blight resistant potato, so basically the same as breeders have been doing since the dawn of agriculture, just a little bit more high tech.

I realise that this won't necessarily reassure everyone but reassures me as this gene could find its way into our environment under natural conditions, nowhere near as freaky as the potatos with frog genes in them which the government/defra just plain rejected!

The defra letter of consent can be found here..
http://www.defra.gov.uk/environment/gm/ ... r42-01.pdf

I realise this is always going to be an emotive topic but there has been a lot of missinformation published by the press over the years. The one everybody will no doubt remember is the GM potato trial at the Rowet institute in Aberdeen where they had apparently proved that the GM potatos were killing rats, what was revealed later, and only published as an appology in scientific journals never making it to the press, was that the head of the research group had injected the potatos with rat poison! Not surprisingly he 'retired' after they found this out.

Before anyone asks, no I don't work on GM crops etc I just keep my eye on whats happening.


Please keep talking to me :)

[Andy Hamilton]

Please keep talking to me :)

OF course

I will have to do a bit more research myself, there just seems to be something esentially wrong about GM foods.

[pskipper]

I'm not sure how I feel about them myself, except one area which I 100% dissapprove of which is when herbicide companies develop crops which are resistant to their products so you are forced to buy from them!

I just get irritated by the deliberate missinformation released by the press to make things 'newsworthy'