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BASF chemical company wants British GM potato trials

Tuesday, 29 August 2006

BASF chemical company wants British GM potato trials but Friends of the Earth oppose this

The chemical company BASF has asked for permission to grow the first trial crop of genetically modified (GM) potatoes in Britain and says it hopes GM potatoes could be sold in the UK within 10 years.

BASF says the potatoes would be resistant to late blight disease, which would mean no spraying with fungicides, and could save millions in damaged crops, however, environmentalists say consumers do not want GM potatoes.

BASF says blight resistance means farmers could avoid losses of up to £50m a year through damaged crops and that the proposed trials would take place in Cambridgeshire and Derbyshire.

BASF spokesman Barry Sticking said it was all about providing choice for farmers but opposing this, Claire Oxborough, from Friends of the Earth, said there was no market for GM goods.

"Consumers have already made that choice and that's why all the supermarkets and food companies have stopped using GM ingredients in their foods.

"They've recognised that people don't want to eat it," Claire Oxborough explained.

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