INDEPENDENT (London) / 19 May 2000 / By Paul Waugh, Political Correspondent
Both the Government and Advanta Seeds UK are facing multi-million-pound legal claims and possibly criminal prosecution over the GM crops blunder.
The Soil Association, which certifies organic produce nationwide, is considering court action after the revelation that the company had sold contaminated batches of oilseed rape to some 600 farms in the past two years.
The association confirmed to The Independent that it was consulting lawyers and would work with hundreds of organic farmers who have GM-free contracts with supermarkets.
Although just 1 per cent of Advanta's products were contaminated, the company admitted yesterday that it did not know exactly which farmers or merchants had used the seeds.
Nick Brown, the Minister of Agriculture, faced repeated demands from Tory and Liberal Democrat MPs yesterday to indicate whether compensation would be paid to farmers affected by the blunder.
Mr Brown refused to talk about compensation but stressed the issue of liability was "under review" by the Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions.
However, officials from the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food revealed that current government legal advice was that no regulations had been breached because the mixing of the GM and non-GM seeds had been accidental. "We do not consider this as commercial planting because it was inadvertant," a senior Maff official said.
But Patrick Holden, director of the Soil Association, said that such a suggestion was ludicrous. "How can the Government deny that this is commercial planting? That ought to be tested in a court of law. Anyone could say they didn't mean to pollute the environment, but that doesn't mean they should be allowed to get away with it," he said.
"These farmers purchased seed in good faith that they believed to be GM-free and because of that I would have thought that they have a claim to redress."
Mr Holden said that the planting of 34,000 acres, andthe plans to extend GM farmtrials, could mean that the public would soon be unable to make a GM-free choice asconsumers.
Peter Roderick, a legal adviser for Friends of the Earth, said that if the Government failed to launch a criminal investigation, then his own pressure group would launch a private prosecution.
Mr Roderick said: "The onus should be on Advanta to prove that its actions were inadvertant. The Government is just taking its word that this was all an accident and therefore it's all OK. Well, it's not OK."
(posted without permission)
