EXCERPT: Given, therefore, the documented hostility

of EU consumers to GM food, and given the importance of the reputation that Irish food has for being safe and of high quality, the introduction of GM here will benefit no one other than the companies which are attempting to control the food system. There is no demand from Irish farmers for GM, and no evidence that it will benefit either them or Irish consumers."
---

Plan for trial of GM potatoes arouses Irish ire
By John Murray Brown in Dublin and Fiona Harvey and Lisa Urquhart in London
Financial Times, January 27 2006
http://news.ft.com/cms/s/a2601422-8f79-11da-b430-0000779e2340.html

A plan by BASF, the chemicals and biotechnology company, for a field trial in Ireland of genetically modified potatoes looks likely to run into trouble from protesters.

BASF has submitted an application to the country's Environmental Protection Agency to conduct field trials of potatoes that have been genetically modified to resist blight and which would avoid the need for farmers to spray the crops with large amounts of pesticides.

The field trials are set to take place on a farm in County Meath. BASF said that the first plot would cover 2.5 acres within a larger plot of five acres and that the trial sites would be rotated regularly about the farm.

It would be the first time genetically modified potatoes have been grown in Ireland, the biggest per-capita consumer of potatoes in Europe.

BASF said if the application was successful it would begin trials as quickly as possible: "We expect to hear from the regulators in the next couple of weeks."

But the Irish Green party has objected to the plan. Trevor Sargent, Green party leader, said: "I hope this will be a rallying point for people who have felt the Irish government has not given the Irish people the information we need to have a full debate on this issue. The reputation Ireland has as a place for clean, green agricultural produce for export is at stake. The food industry is far too important to Ireland to allow that to happen."

In support of the trial, BASF is expected to argue that its modified potatoes would require much less pesticide than ordinary potato varieties.

The potato holds an important place in the Irish diet, having been the staple food in rural areas from the late 18th century. A famine caused by potato blight in the 1840s, during which as many as 1m people are estimated to have died and more than 1m people emigrated out of a population at the time of around 8m, still resonates in the nation’s consciousness.

Martin Ferris, Sinn FEin spokesman on agriculture, said his party was also opposed to the plans. He said: "If GM crops are grown here, they will inevitably contaminate traditional and organic crops. There is no doubt about that from research that has been conducted. Given, therefore, the documented hostility of EU consumers to GM food, and given the importance of the reputation that Irish food has for being safe and of high quality, the introduction of GM here will benefit no one other than the companies which are attempting to control the food system. There is no demand from Irish farmers for GM, and no evidence that it will benefit either them or Irish consumers."

The Irish Environmental Protection Agency is expected to make a decision within a few weeks on whether to allow the trials to go ahead.