SNP calls for Holyrood to use new power to ban GM

0 Comments | Sunday Herald, The, Nov 14, 1999 | by Douglas Fraser

Genetically modified food is to enter into the heart of the political battle-ground for the first time in Scotland, with the launch of a campaign by the Scottish National Party tomorrow for Scotland to become a "GM-free nation".

The issue opens up an important dividing line between the main Scottish opposition party and the Executive which Kenny MacAskill, one of the SNP's most effective campaigners, is keen to exploit.

The Scottish Executive admitted earlier this month that it is likely to give the go-ahead to Scotland's first field-scale trials for GM crops in time for next spring's sowing season. It has already given permission for 22 laboratory-level trials in Scotland.

But last week, ministers published a new agreement between Edinburgh and Whitehall which cleared up the ambiguity over which parliament can legislate on GM's environmental impact. It stated that role rested with the Scottish parliament, though "general policy" was the subject of international negotiations led by Whitehall.

MacAskill is confident the Scottish parliament can therefore move to ban all trials and testing, in particular the move towards commercial planting. This is on the basis that fields of GM crops can lead to other crops being affected up to four kilometres away, due to bees carrying pollen that distance, when the regulations state that the barrier with other crops need be no more than 50 metres.

The campaign will put the Executive parties, and particularly LibDem agriculture minister Ross Finnie, in an awkward position, as there is hostility among activists to the science being developed, and LibDems are campaigning to have it banned at European level.

The move also pits the interests of the Scottish food industry, which is dependent on a reputation for high quality, against the biotechnology industry, which has huge growth and jobs potential in areas such as Midlothian and Dundee. There are concerns that further investment could be stifled if the SNP threatens to ban further research and trials in a future administration.

There is little evidence of the harmful effects GM crops can have, following a dispute over the reliability of research carried out with rats eating GM potatoes at the Rowett Institute in Aberdeen. But MacAskill, the SNP's environment spokesman, argues there is no conclusive proof that it is safe, and it is wrong to put the high- quality reputation of Scotland's agriculture at stake "for the sake of a quick buck".

"We could pollute land irrevocably and lose the ability to deliver the quality traditional product for which Scotland is famous," he told the Sunday Herald. "Where the multi-nationals lead, Scotland need not follow. Where London lacked the will, Scotland now has the power."