GM FOOD > INFORMATION > SHEET 4

GM Foods: From the point of view of... English Nature

English Nature promotes the conservation of England's wildlife and natural features. They were set up by the Environmental Protection Act 1990 and are a statutory body funded by the Department of Environment, Transport and the Regions.

Putting our environment first
English Nature is not against genetic modification in principle. We are not asking for a blanket moratorium on the commercial release of ALL genetically modified crops. We are asking for time for proper scientific testing and research of those crops which could pose an environmental threat. We consider that there MAY be potential, in some of this technology, for producing more environmentally-friendly crops in the future, but that this needs further research, proper regulation and adequate safeguards.

No research has yet demonstrated that the potential environmental benefits can be delivered in practice. No one yet knows enough to judge whether this technology is environmentally beneficial or harmful. But there is some worrying evidence. We are very concerned about the effects that introducing herbicide-tolerant and insect-resistant crops would have on biodiversity. These new varieties would give farmers the ability to eliminate wildlife in crops.

There is good research to show that declines in wild plants, insects and birds on agricultural land are, in large part due, to more efficient herbicides developed over the past 20 years. Even more efficient herbicides would be used with herbicide-tolerant GM crops. Evidence is also beginning to appear of the potential for spread of genetically modified traits into other plants, giving them unknown or potentially damaging qualities such as herbicide or insect resistance. We are not saying that rampaging triffids will be created, but we need to know whether they might.

Our advice to Government has been that herbicide-tolerant crops and insect-resistant crops should not be released commercially until an agreed research programme, to assess the impact of GM crops on farmland wildlife, has been completed and considered by the regulatory system. English Nature advocates that research and trials must continue (though under strictly controlled circumstances) if we are to find out whether this technology is useful or not, safe or not, and this programme of research needs adequate time to produce results.

Finally it is important to look at GM crops from the perspective of the wider problems of intensive farming, which has caused dramatic declines in British wildlife over the past few decades. We need to find ways of making agriculture more sustainable, and promoting farming practices that support wildlife rather than trying to eliminate it.