Environmental groups have described as "pathetic" court fines against the biotechnology giant, Monsanto, and another company for breaking safety rules at a field trial site for genetically modified plants.
The prosecution taken by the UK Health and Safety Executive was the first of its kind for infringements of regulations controlling genetically modified (GM) plant trials.
Magistrates in Caistor, Lincolnshire, fined Monsanto £17,000 and ordered the company to pay £6,159 costs. A second company conducting trials, seed producers Perryfields Holdings, was fined £14,000 and ordered to pay £5,000 costs. Both companies pleaded guilty to charges of failing to comply with regulations.
The trials, cleared by the UK Department of the Environment, were for oil seed rape modified to resist herbicides. The permit included requirements that the GM crop be surrounded by a six metre wide "pollen barrier" made up of non-GM oil seed rape plants that were meant to catch any pollen straying from the GM plants.
HSE inspector, Dr Andrew Tommey, visited the site at Rothwell, Lincolnshire last June. He told the court that the barrier had been cut back in some places to just two metres. He also found a gap had been created between the GM crop and the pollen barrier, creating what he called a "wind tunnel" allowing pollen to escape.
The two companies' test crops were ordered to be destroyed. "Every plant within 50 metres of the site was also destroyed and the whole site will remain barren for two years and will be regularly checked," Dr Tommey told the court.
Mr Simon Parrington, prosecuting, said that no one from either company bothered to visit the site to see if the consent was being followed. Neither company had taken sufficient steps to make sure that the barriers were in place. Mr Rhodri Price Lewis, defending both companies, told the court: "An employee who was not aware of the consent regulations mowed and removed plants in order to make it easier to get at the trial plants. This was not an act which was under the control of these companies."
The Green MEP, Ms Nuala Ahern, said that the case was "an indictment of the lack of regulatory powers and monitoring of genetically engineered crop trials". She criticised the size of the fine imposed against the two companies. "This is not a lot of money for companies like Monsanto."
"This is a pathetic fine in light of the potential for damage," said
Mr Quentin Gargan of Genetic Concern. "Our whole concern is that these trials are not being conducted at safety standards we would accept." It raised doubts about assurances given by the companies about the safety of their products and trials. Friends of the Earth branded the court's decision as "pathetic" and called for action to stop food companies "playing Russian roulette" with the countryside.
Monsanto regretted the breach of regulations according to a spokesman in Dublin. The company, he said, "took immediate steps to limit any environmental impact".
The trials, he said, were under the control of a third party appointed by the Ministry for Agriculture in accordance with the UK requirements for such trials. Monsanto had no direct control over the site, he said.
The regulations were different in Ireland and four of the five trials here were under Monsanto's direct control, he said, with the fifth controlled by Teagasc. These sites were regularly inspected by the EPA, he said.
Additional reporting by PA.
