Posted
28th June 2001
Monsanto v The World
GM giant Aventis is to take the UK Government to court. The
company wants to prevent the Government from giving information
to Friends of the Earth on the environmental and health effects
of one of its pesticides. Glufosinate ammonium (GA) is used
in GM farm-scale trials. It is one of the two herbicides to
be sprayed on those GM crops nearest to commercialisation.
Lawyers for the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
(DEFRA) have given the company 14 days within which to seek
an injunction preventing disclosure. Friends of the Earth first
requested the information from the former Ministry of Agriculture
in February 2000, after it changed the rules on the use of glufosinate
ammonium. Previously GA was only allowed to be sprayed on crops
during the summer, because of fears over the environmental and
health impact of using the pesticide during the winter months.
Possible effects include leaching into groundwater. Following
a request by Aventis, the Government allowed GA to be sprayed
on GM crops during the winter.
FOE
asked to see the information that Aventis supplied to back up
its requests. Initially the Government stalled. In January this
year it refused to disclose the information. However, following
the threat of legal action from FOE the Government backed down.
Aventis had claimed commercial confidentiality to block disclosure.
Peter Roderick, Friends of the Earth's Legal Adviser, said:
This shows the lengths that the biotech industry will go to
keep its activities from public scrutiny.
If
Aventis has got scientific evidence on the safety of this pesticide
why won't they let us see it? Full marks to the Government for
finally agreeing to disclose most of the information. It must
now stand firm in defending Aventis' challenge. It is difficult
to see how commercial confidentiality can trump the public's
right to know about the possible environmental and health impacts
of spraying pesticides on GM crops. ..
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