A leading British organic farmer, Mr Guy Watson, has lost an Appeal Court attempt in London to halt trials of a genetically-modified (GM) maize crop in a field next to his farm.
Three judges unanimously ruled yesterday that the courts had no jurisdiction to intervene, even though regulations for conducting seed trials had been breached by the British government.
Lord Justice Simon Brown, sitting with Lord Justice Judge and Lord Justice Buxton, said there had been a "remarkable and regrettable" statement that the approach taken to such trials in recent years was "contrary to law".
But the judges ruled that that did not mean the GM maize crop involved now had to be destroyed as it was open for "fresh arrangements" to be made for continuing the tests.
The ruling was a defeat for Mr Watson, who went organic 15 years ago at his 800acre farm in Devon. The decision upheld a recent High Court decision.
Mr Watson took legal action because of the danger of cross-pollination of his own sweetcorn crop and the threatened loss of his accreditation by the Soil Association, which grants organic status.
The GM T25 maize strain is due to flower later this month, or in early August. Mr Watson's application for judicial review was backed by both the Soil Association and Friends of the Earth, who described it as the "make or break" case for the future of organic farming in the UK.
The Soil Association said organic growers, as well as some conventional food producers, were "seriously alarmed at the prospect of uncontrollable contamination by genetically-modified crops".
The maize trials are being conducted by the National Institute of Agricultural Botany (NIAB) under an arrangement made by the Ministry for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food through the British Society of Plant Breeders. The trials with seeds developed by Sharpes International Seeds required official consent under the 1990 Environmental Protection Act as they involved the release of GM organisms into the atmosphere.
Both the ministry and Mr John Prescott, Secretary of State for the Environment, decided on July 3rd to allow the trials to continue after concluding that "the amount of cross-pollination (with Mr Watson's crop) was likely to be zero".
It was argued in court that the 1982 Seeds Regulations governing seed trials had been disregarded by the government.
The regulations stated that no application should be made to the ministry in respect of seeds to be included in national seed listing trials without including the results of two replicated trials already conducted in the UK to show the new varieties were worthy of inclusion.
In his judgment, Lord Justice Brown said the ministry had now conceded there was a clear breach of the regulations. "It is not for the minister to disregard the plain words of Regulation 11(3) and to process applications which the law expressly forbids him even to entertain."
Plainly the regulations could be amended but until the agriculture minister used his powers to do so "he must comply with them just like anyone else".
The judge noted there were 1,200 trials involving some 500 plant varieties being carried out up and down the country which could be affected by today's ruling.
But the judge rejected the submission that there should be an order for the immediate destruction of the genetically-modified maize near Mr Watson's land before it flowered. The power to destroy the plants could only properly be exercised under the 1990 Environmental Protection Act on the grounds that it was necessary for the health, safety and protection of the environment.
"Those considerations have already been fully taken into account and were not found sufficient to justify defloration of the trial plants."