GM Food Trials Fail To Prove Benefits

Natural Products Magazine: "In the most recent trial the herbicide used in conjunction with the herbicide-tolerant GM crop was so effective that there were one third fewer seeds for birds to eat at the end of the season than in a conventional crop. Two years later there were still 25% fewer seeds, even though the weedkiller had not been applied again.



Les Firbank, of the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology in Lancaster, who led the study, said: These weeds are effectively the bottom of the food chain, so the seeds they produce are vital for farmland birds, which are already in decline. There were also fewer bees and butterflies in the GM crops.



The results of this latest study will make Tony Blairs pro-GM stance more difficult. The former environment minister Michael Meacher recently claimed that the prime minister and the environment secretary, Margaret Beckett, were the sole supporters of GM within the Government. "