FOCUS ON ASIA
http://www.gmwatch.org

Witoon Lianchamroon, director of Biothai, called yesterday for the immediate destruction of all suspected GM papaya trees in tandem with a reasonable compensation scheme for papaya growers who had been affected by the Government's negligence in controlling the spread of GM crops.

He also called on the government to order Kasetsart and Mahidol university researchers, who are also conducting experiments on GM papaya, to destroy their transgenic papaya trees to prevent similar incidents in the future.

The Government is also talking about punishing the officials responsible for the papaya contamination.

The Government certainly needs to rigorously enforce its moratorium if it is to be free of any further such damaging incidents.

As much as anything, that means continuing to stand firm against the lobbying of self-interested GM researchers and their US and industry backers.
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1,000 'GM papaya trees' felled
Khon Kaen
The Nation, Sep 16, 2004
http://nationmultimedia.com/page.news.php3?clid=3&id=120934&usrsess=1

An agricultural research station yesterday destroyed 1,000 suspected genetically modified (GM) papaya trees in Muang district.

"Ten years of research aimed at improving disease resistance in papayas was destroyed, along with the experimental crops," said research station chief Wilai Prasartsri.

Wilai said the research setback was unjustified and was essnetially based on an unfounded fear of GM crops.

The felled trees were buried in a two-metre-deep hole. Wilai added that she had observed strict safety measures to ensure the experimental papayas did not contaminate local crops, adding that an internal investigation had yet to confirm whether the contamination originated from her research station.

Five papaya farmers, who witnessed the destruction of the GM papaya trees, expressed their support for Wilai to continue her research.

In Bangkok, Agriculture Minister Somsak Thepsuthin said he suspected that workers at the research station had unwittingly mixed seeds from GM papayas with those destined for distribution to farmers.

"Authorities are checking the papayas grown in 2,600 farms in the Northeast and will destroy only GM crops," Somsak said.

Agriculture Department director-general Chakan Saengraksawong said the authorities had finished collecting samples from every papaya farm across the country.

Test results will be known within the next two days and tainted crops will be destroyed within one month, he said.