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Genetic manipulation firm wants test sites kept secret

London Times   June 22 1998
   
   Attacks by protesters are increasing, writes Michael Hornsby
   
   Genetic engineering firm wants test sites kept secret
   
   THE Government has been asked to stop disclosing the locations of test
   sites of genetically engineered crops to prevent attacks by a new
   breed of "eco-terrorist".
   
   Companies developing the controversial crops are worried by the
   growing number of guerrilla-style attacks aimed at preventing the
   plants being grown commercially in Britain. The first such crop, an
   engineered variety of oilseed rape, is close to receiving official
   approval, and farmers could be free to plant it as soon as next
   spring. It has been made resistant to herbicide, so that farmers can
   spray weeds in the crop without damaging it.
   
   Over the past two months militant opponents of the new technology have
   damaged plants at a score of sites in England and Scotland. AgrEvo, a
   German biotechnology company with a base at East Winch, near King's
   Lynn, in Norfolk, has 40 trial plots around Britain growing
   genetically modified oilseed rape, sugar beet, maize and potatoes.
   
   "During the past few months five of the 40 sites have been attacked,
   and we fear that many more will be damaged," Des D'Souza, a company
   product manager, said. "The protesters are destroying valuable
   scientific data which would help to answer many of the questions they
   themselves properly raise.
   
   "The tests have been conducted with complete openness up to now, but
   we are discussing with the Government why the public needs to know the
   exact location of trial sites."
   
   Activists can easily locate the experimental sites because the
   Department of the Environment is required by European law to keep a
   public register of crop test sites and makes the information available
   on the Internet. There are 64 licensed trials of genetically modified
   crops at more than 330 sites, mainly involving oilseed rape and sugar
   beet, but also new varieties of wheat, maize, barley, potatoes and
   chicory.
   
   Opponents of the new technology, such as AgrEvo's modified rape, say
   that not enough is yet known about its long-term effects, claiming
   that the herbicide-resistant gene, transferred to oilseed rape from a
   soil bacterium, could "escape" into other crops, creating
   uncontrollable superweeds.
   
     Genetic engineering makes it possible to identify and transfer
   single genes between widely different species, for example from
   animals to plants. The Scottish Crop Research Institute near Dundee is
   carrying out field trials of strawberries implanted with a gene taken
   from the North Atlantic cod.
   
   The gene stops the fish's blood from freezing at extreme sub-zero
   temperatures and it is believed it could give the strawberries
   built-in protection against frost, one of the biggest causes of damage
   to soft fruit.
   
   Ronnie McNicol, head of the institute's soft fruits and perennial
   crops department, said that the risks could be investigated only by
   proper study. "If we find there is a problem, we will stop," he said.
   
   The Vegetarian Society said yesterday that any fruit containing animal
   genes should be clearly labelled. "The Vegetarian Society does not
   have an anti-genetics policy," Tina Fox, a spokesman, said. "What we
   are concerned about is the use of animal genes. Vegetarians clearly do
   not want to eat strawberries with fish genes in them."
   
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