Environmental concern was not issue, says US firm

THE Irish representative of the US chemical corporation, Monsanto, has strongly denied suggestions it withdrew two of three applications to grow genetically-modified crops in Ireland because of environmental concerns.

The move was made simply because the owners of farms in east Cork and Kilkenny, where trials on the growing of genetically-modified sugar beet were to be based, "deserved privacy and confidentiality", Mr Sidney Reid said.

There was no public right served by having the farmers identified, he said. The Environmental Protection Agency, which is considering Monsanto's application to grow beet resistant to its herbicide, Roundup, refused to accede to a request that the farmers' names remain confidential. A third "notification" seeking to carry out field trials at Oakpark research farm, owned by Teagasc in Co Carlow, is being pursued.

Mr Reid said the withdrawals were made on the basis of confidentiality and not secrecy, but he admitted the company "had reason to believe that the farmers' property might be interfered with".

The withdrawal would not hamper Monsanto's Irish plans, Mr Reid said. It had simply been looking for a spread of trials in good beet-growing areas. Over the past six years, 150 trials had been carried out in Europe, where farmers names had been kept confidential. "We are not doing something here in Ireland we have not done elsewhere. We want to be fair to Ireland, to show that this process works in Ireland."

Monsanto had been forthcoming about supplying data to the EPA which showed there was no risk to the environment, he said.