July 1, 2009
Wales receives proposal for tough GM controls
The Welsh Assembly has proposed measures to control GM crops, including GM-free zones and a ban on GM crops growing in national parks.
Assembly officials aim to protect conventional and organic crops from contamination with GMs.
The measures also included the imposition of strict liability on GM crop growers.
Eilin Jones, the assembly's rural affairs minister, said she could not declare the whole of Wales as GM-free, but she will continue the most restrictive policy compatible with EU and UK legislation.
Jones said she is committed to maintaining consumers' right to choose non-GM food and the ability of Welsh farmers to grow organic and conventional crops free from GM contamination.
Jones said the intention is to tightly regulate coexistence in Wales, and the proposed measures will be more restrictive than those proposed in England and Northern Ireland.
Under the proposal, growers require assembly permission three months before planting GM crops, and they'd have to inform their neighbours and consult them to ensure compliance with separation distances.
