Genetic
Modification
and Biosafety
Research
Group

GM Crops' Risk

Sir:

In the article "Unlikely radical continues family tradition of 'doing the right thing' ", (21 September) you refer to a study I carried out with a colleague, Dr Catherine Moyes, on the potential mixing of GM and organic crops in agriculture.

I would like to clarify some points. GM crops must pass through a rigorous scientific assessment before they are accepted for commercial production. Once approved, they are considered to be as safe as conventionally bred crops for use in agriculture and for food.

From a scientific perspective, pollination between GM crops and non-GM crops is then considered to present no greater risk than pollination between different conventionally bred crops. No system for the field production of crops can guarantee absolute genetic purity of seed samples. There is also movement of weed seeds, pests and diseases between different farming systems, and these can have devastating effects (eg potato blight, ergot fungal infection containing toxic alkaloids).

There has always been the need for different farming systems to accommodate each other. The debate about GM and non-GM crop segregation is principally about a mechanism that enables society to benefit from future advances in biotechnology in the UK and internationally, while safeguarding choice - choice for farmers to grow and consumers to buy different kinds of crops.

Professor Philip Dale
Genetic Modification and Biosafety Research Group
Norwich