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Vandalism Devastates Britain’s Genetically Altered Crops

By  Kate Galbraith
December 5, 2003

Vandalism against genetically modified plants has plagued Britain’s crop-research institutions, according to preliminary findings of a survey by Sense About Science, a nonprofit organization that does research on scientific issues of public interest.

Ten leading institutes, including the John Innes Center, in Norwich, and the Scottish Crop Research Institute, in Dundee, collectively reported 28 vandalism incidents between January 1999 and April 2003. Most of the attacks were on field trials, and the disruption cost as much as $11,700 per trial. Many additional attacks occurred against individual farmers carrying out government research projects.

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Vandalism against genetically modified plants has plagued Britain’s crop-research institutions, according to preliminary findings of a survey by Sense About Science, a nonprofit organization that does research on scientific issues of public interest.

Ten leading institutes, including the John Innes Center, in Norwich, and the Scottish Crop Research Institute, in Dundee, collectively reported 28 vandalism incidents between January 1999 and April 2003. Most of the attacks were on field trials, and the disruption cost as much as $11,700 per trial. Many additional attacks occurred against individual farmers carrying out government research projects.

About 99 percent of the time, the vandals are after genetically modified crops, says Tracey Brown, director of Sense About Science. The value or danger of food that comes from such crops is a perennial source of controversy in Britain. Unlike the United States, Britain has a moratorium on the commercial farming of genetically modified crops. However, the government may soon decide whether to relax that policy.

“From the point of view of research scientists, it’s not something they have really had to contemplate before,” says Ms. Brown regarding the vandalism. News-media coverage of the attacks, she says, may spur the vandals on.


http://chronicle.com Section: International Volume 50, Issue 15, Page A27

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