Ploughing in GM crops has risks, says McKenna

Genetically modified crops being tested in the Republic are being disposed of by potentially hazardous methods, the Green MEP, Ms Patricia McKenna, has claimed.

She said the method of disposal used by biotech company Monsanto in their GM sugar beet trials at various sites heightened the risk of contaminating conventional crops.

GM sugar beet used in four field trials by Monsanto last year was chopped up with a rota-tiller and ploughed back into the soil at the end of the year's test growth. This, Ms McKenna said, is "potentially unsafe", though the trials and disposal of the plants were approved by the Environment Protection Agency.

The EPA has said the fields were monitored regularly to ensure that re-growth did not occur. Ms McKenna maintained, however, this method was totally unsatisfactory as it did not guarantee that GM contamination of nearby crops would not occur in the long term.

"The risks of contamination from GM crops to non-GM crops have not been fully evaluated," Ms McKenna said. "It is essential that the safest method be employed to dispose of plants which are field tested."

The safest method of destroying these crops was incineration, she said, which prevents any traces of the test crop from re-entering the food chain. "The mechanisms of gene transfer have not been fully understood. There is a very strong chance, as the soil contains that primary constituents of the food chain, that over time contamination of adjacent crops could happen."

The EPA has said that the disposal method of re-ploughing is also used when plants are "bolting" or about to produce seed. This, Ms McKenna said, was an even more obvious threat which seriously increased the risks of contamination of nearby crops.

She said she was, "quite astounded" that EPA scientists had approved "such an untested method of disposal". The EPA has indicated that all tests were closely monitored and had EU approval.

Dr Jim Burke, a scientist who has carried out work on GM beet at Teagasc Research Centre at Oak Park in Co Carlow, said any trials carried out by Teagasc were done in accordance with EU directives. "These stipulate that all tested plants are ploughed back into the site and this is done under supervision of the EPA."

The same regulations and guidelines were used as in all other EU countries, he said.

However, Ms McKenna maintained this was insufficient. "The EU regulations leave room for certain derogations and stricter rules can be applied, as some other EU member-states have done."

Ms McKenna said she would be raising the issue with the European Commission and urged the EPA and the Minister for Environment, Mr Dempsey, to insist on incineration.