Although there is much emotion in the agruments about gm crops, here is 
a more scientific study.  What doesn't compute for me in this 
study--there are more weeds in the gm crops--but perhaps these weren't 
Roundup gm crops ready.  Lanny Schwartz


BBC NEWS
GM crop study set for publication
* The results from the last of the major farm-scale trials of GM crops 
in the UK are to be published on Monday. *

Already, a GM beet and spring oilseed rape have been shown to be more 
harmful to many groups of wildlife than their conventional equivalents.

A third biotech crop, a maize, was found to be kinder to other plants 
and animals than a normal, non-GM plant.

The final scientific report will centre on the performance of a 
winter-sown oilseed rape.

The UK Farm-Scale Evaluations (FSEs) of genetically modified (GM) plants 
have been described as the biggest ecological experiment in the world 
and a model for measuring the impact of new farming techniques on the 
environment.

* Seeds and insects *

They were set up by the government in 1999 to help ministers decide 
whether or not to allow commercialisation of engineered plants in Britain.

The FSEs, which have been conducted by independent scientists, set out 
to look at a narrow set of issues related to the impact on the 
environment of herbicide-tolerance - GM crops that can be sprayed with 
specific weedkillers and still flourish while competing plants (weeds) 
are killed off.

The scientists grew the GM plants under farm conditions side by side 
with their conventional equivalents, and then observed the wildlife in 
among the crops and at the field margins.

The FSEs showed that some insect groups, such as bees (in beet crops) 
and butterflies (in beet and rape), were recorded more frequently in and 
around the conventional crops because there were more weeds to provide 
food and cover.

There were also more weed seeds in conventional beet and rape crops than 
in their GM counterparts. Such seeds are important in the diets of some 
animals, particularly some birds.

In contrast, growing GM maize was better for many groups of wildlife 
than conventional maize. There were more weeds in and around the biotech 
maize crops, more butterflies and bees around at certain times of the 
year, and more weed seeds.

* Journal report *

The results for the first three crops (spring oilseed rape, beet and 
maize) were published in October 2003 - the government agreeing to the 
commercialisation of the maize under strict conditions.

The results from the fourth crop - winter oilseed rape - will be 
announced by the project's Scientific Steering Committee (SSC) at a 
meeting at the Royal Institution in London.

The results are being published in a journal of the Royal Society, the 
UK's academy of science.

Bayer Cropscience, the German company behind the GM maize, decided not 
to proceed with the cultivation of its product in March last year.

It said the restriction imposed by the government had made 
commercialisation "economically non-viable".

Story from BBC NEWS:  

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