Assembly Urged to Tighten GM Laws

Environmental groups are calling on the Welsh Assembly Government to strengthen the law to help prevent damage caused by growing genetically modified crops in Wales.

The groups, including Genewatch UK, GM Freeze, GM Free Cymru and Friends of the Earth Cymru, have written to AMs throughout Wales urging them to support proposals to further strengthen environmental liability laws and help prevent GM pollution.

‘The Government in England has said that English farmers and the environment do not need the full protection available under European law,’ said Friends of the Earth Cymru directorJulian Rosser.

‘If followed in Wales this would mean millions of acres of countryside and hundreds of species would not be covered for harm caused by GMOs.

‘It is great that the Assembly Government has rejected that approach.’

The groups want GMOs to be made a special case when the EU Environmental Liability Directive is implemented in April. The law aims to prevent and repair environmental damage. Governments can make companies wanting to release GM crops exempt from liability for any damage they cause if the crop had been given a European approval.

The groups want the Assembly Government to reject this approach in order to prevent future GM contamination and damage.

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