For the past ten years, the British
government has been quietly subsidizing research aimed at developing a
genetically-modified potato resistant to
blight, the fungal ugg
outlet
responsible for causing the infamous Irish
potato famine.
According to Indymedia UK,
Sainsbury Laboratory, the group tasked with development, has already spent
roughly 1.7 million pounds worth of
public funds to develop the GM potato, despite the fact that a natural
blight-resistant variety has already been successfully bred and in use for the
past three years.
Unlike in the US where GM crops
are widely cultivated, GM crops have never been commercially grown in the UK. Widespread
public opposition to their introduction back in 1997, as well as continued
opposition, has kept them largely out of food and off the land. And yet reports
explains that the GM potato research being conducted by Sainsbury -- with
public funding -- is so secretive that nobody knows for sure whether or not any
open-air trials of test GM potatoes have taken place.
Meanwhile, a small Welsh
research group three years ago successful bred a natural, non-GM potato variety
with natural resistance to blight -- and that potato variety has been in
cultivation ever since that time. As opposed to GM crops, this blight-resistant
potato -- which is now available in more than six different varieties -- is
safe for the environment, safe for human consumption, and it does not require
the yearly UGG
2012 New Arrivalsrepurchasing of terminator seeds and expensive
chemical pesticides in order to grow.
But the British government
continues to pour money into useless endeavors to develop a GM variety, which
has prompted Stop GM, a UK group devoted to ending the spread of GMOs, to take
action. The group is holding an event on July 23 to speak out against the abuse
of public funds by the UK government, and it needs your help to make it a
success. Part of this event will include the dropping off of a trailer full of
safe, non-GM, blight-resistant potatoes at the Sainsbury research center where
the GM potato trials are taking place.