Activists destroy Leeds University potato trial

The small-scale field trial, less than 0.1 hectare in size, at the University of Leeds was vandalised early this month, sparking anger from the research leaders. The incident has also called into question the UK policy to publicise the precise address of all GM trials.

“Potato cyst nematodes are serious pests and a major constraint to British potato farmers,” said Dr Peter Urwin, who said a failure to distinguish a research trial from product-development trials seemed to have blinded activists.

“We have no evidence that the 400 transgenic plants we released posed any environmental concern, particularly when considered in the context of the annual UK potato crop of 8,000 million plants and their naturally hazardous glycoalkaloid content.”

He said EU governments should be able to protect the trials they authorise and called for the establishment of secure, vandal-proof national testing centres.

It was hoped the research in Tadcaster, Yorkshire – one of only two GM research projects in the country – would not only offer potential to potato growers, but the findings would transfer to farmers in the developing world and protect a variety of other crops from pests.

Have your say

Please do not complete the following form field for security reasons.

Name

E-mail

Comment