Environmental agency allows GM potato trials on Meath farm

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has given its consent for field trials of genetically modified potatoes to begin on a farm in Co Meath.

The farm where the trials are to take place is at Arodstown, near Summerhill, where a one-hectare site is to be used to develop a more blight-resistant potato.

Field trials of genetically modified foods have not been licensed in the Republic since 1998 when an experiment in Co Carlow ended with protesters destroying the plants.

The decision to license a new trial has angered environmentalists and some farmers as well as food producers who have campaigned to keep Ireland free from genetically modified (GM) foods.

The company planning to carry out the trials is German firm BASF Plant Science GmbH, an affiliate of the German multi-national BASF which had sales of almost €43 billion in 2005.

Announcing its decision yesterday, the EPA said the permission was for field trials only, and should not be confused with permission to place genetically modified products on the market.

Potatoes harvested from the trials may not be used for food for either humans or animals.

However, the organisation GM Free Ireland has claimed the experiment could undermine the Republic's food marketing drive, the catchline of which is "Ireland - the food island".

Spokesman Michael O'Callaghan organised a protest meeting in Navan, Co Meath, for last night, but he appeared to dismiss any form of direct action by protesters, saying it would be "only a palliative measure".

A legislative ban on GM testing was required, he maintained, pointing out that as many as seven European countries and 175 regional governments across 22 EU member states had declared themselves GM-free.

He said field trials posed serious practical difficulties due to possible "contamination" of surrounding crops.

The implications for neighbouring farmers' crops - and the fact that the GM crops are patented - could lead to a situation where GM crop owners laid claim to the crops of neighbouring farmers, he said.

Farmers were also concerned that the presence of GM crops could detrimentally affect the price of farmland in the region, he said.

John Flynn of the Irish Cattle and Sheep Farmers' Association said the decision to license the trials was "a disgrace".

"This decision is wrong on so many levels. Science has not yet determined the effects that GM crops could have on consumer health," he said.

"All surrounding farms are now extremely vulnerable to contamination and most importantly, the EPA has just compromised Ireland's clean green image.

"This is possibly the worst decision that this agency has ever made, and all farmers and consumers will pay the price," Mr Flynn said.