2009-01-06 | permalink

GM contaminated crop grown in blunder sparks fears gene will spread to other fields in the UK

A crop of oilseed rape contaminated with GM seeds has been illegally grown on a Somerset farm. Critics of the controversial technology worry that the error could threaten significant genetically-modified pollution of fields, weeds and honey. It seems that seeds sown on a Somerset farm last year were tainted with genes from a GM plant, probably because of cross-contamination in the U.S. The food and farming department Defra identified the error when the crop was harvested this summer and a link was drawn to another contamination incident involving the same seed in Scotland.

• The Daily Mail, UK: GM contaminated crop grown in blunder sparks fears gene will spread to other fields
• Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, UK: Presence of unapproved GM in conventional oilseed rape trial