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GM Crop Trials Start Again in Britain in 'Secret': Report
LONDON - Genetically modified crops are being grown in Britain for the first time in 12 months after controversial trials were resumed without alerting the public, a newspaper reported Monday.
Photo illustration of potatoes. Genetically modified crops are being grown in Britain for the first time in 12 months after controversial trials were resumed without alerting the public, a newspaper reported Monday. (AFP/File/Omar Torres) Cultivation of a field of potatoes designed to be resistant to pests was abandoned more than a year ago when environmental protesters ripped up the crop, the Daily Telegraph said.
But, without alerting the public, the project near Tadcaster in northern England has been restarted, prompting warnings from green groups that local farms and residents could be put at risk, the newspaper said.
One group accused the government of trying to "slip it under the radar."
The Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs said the potatoes would be grown in a safe environment, where there is no risk of contamination. They would not be used for human or animal consumption, it said.
The trial, run by Leeds University, is looking at potatoes that are resistant to a parasite worm that costs British farmers millions of pounds a year in lost and damaged crops.
Genetically-modified crops have a gene, or genes, inserted into them in the lab so that they acquire traits that are useful to farmers.
They are widely grown in North America, South America and China.
But in Europe they have run into fierce resistance, led by green groups who say the crops carry risks through cross-pollination, potentially creating "super-weeds" that are impervious to herbicides.
Only a handful of genetically modified crops have been approved for cultivation in the European Union, but of them only MON810, approved in 1998, is so far being grown.
France this month rejected a report by the European Union's food safety watchdog that said a controversial strain of genetically-modified corn was safe.
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3 Comments so far
Show Allagain look to the french- one of the last democracies on this
planet.fear the government tyranny fear the people democracy!
what is wrong with america that we DON'T get this?
tell the truth: Ignorance is not bliss, it is unforgivable. This is one of the main reasons the U.S. is surely imploding into who knows what? Yes, the French know, and the Greek people are turning towards progressive politics for their country and the world.
We have become a nation of scared, obedient, non-thinkers, unwilling to question so-called authority, be it political hacks or their corporate masters that write the laws for our "elected" and sometimes "selected" representatives.
Without an understanding of one's worth in society, it's easy to be relegated to a form of serfdom, scorning your fellow workers who also share your plight, while looking up in awe to the wealthy, ruling-elite as symbols of success.
Just what the doctor ordered....Dr. Goebbels, that is.
This sounds pessimistic, but the good news is there is a growing awareness for the Truth, and more and more Americans are turning to non-GMO foods, and many are growing their own, and SUPPORTING, small, local organic farmers in their communities. Thank you for your concern, TTT!
The "change" starts with me, than you, than Lottie, Dottie, and everybody!
Rocks or RoundUp?
I'd rather eat rocks than US food phucked with by MonInsanto and Dupunt and the DOWn syndrome Company. MMM Good! Dioxin belching bacteria genes smack in the middle of your "fresh" fruits and vegetables. No, they don't magically "turn off" after being picked off the FrankenFarm. Those genes actively merge with bacteria genes in your gut, and guess what? In their own testing increased chromosome damage happened in rodents and the FDA still signed them off. Maybe that's why Leukemia is up 5000% in the states!
I forbid my maid to buy anything that even looks like it might be imported from the US. I'll eat bug infested peasant food, which, suprisingly is delicious when you get used to it, and NOT GMO (genetically modified organisms) which 70% of USSA food now is.
Move to the tropics. Most trees have strange fruit with big seeds that "ButtHole Foods" would never carry because you Halies aren't used to them. The Chemical Companies (I mean the BigAg Food Companies.... which is the same thing now) only splice GMO into crops with sizable market share. So those perfect looking yellow bananas and apples with no taste are GMO. Those money-grubbing CEO's from Yale and Harvard have never heard of some of the strange and delightful things I eat.
Thank God.
TJ
"All tyranny needs to gain a foothold is for people of good conscience to remain silent." - Thomas Jefferson