This may seem like old news but I've been waiting for an update, waiting to hear that the corporation that owns the patent on the seeds that this farmer used was going to sue him. After all we know the biotech companies are very litigious and are happy to sue even those using their seeds through accidental contamination.But I'm still waiting. For those of you who don't know what on earth I am talking about, I am referring to the recent case of the Welsh farmer Jonathan Harrington who took it upon himself to procure and then plant GM strains of maize on his farm in Wales. Even more worryingly he claims to have fed livestock with the maize and passed on seeds to other farmers. This means that GMO's are in the food chain and not labeled correctly as required by law. Also, as he has refused to name the farmers he has passed his seed onto it is impossible to trace where some of the crop could have ended up. All this means that Harrington can and should be prosecuted by the British government for what he has done.
Wales, like Ireland is a GM free zone. That means that no GM crops can be planted within it's borders. Unfortunately although this is a strict farming policy they are unable to uphold it by law.
There are two main issues here as I see it:
Firstly, Wales is now contaminated with GMOs, even if Harrington declared to whom he had distributed the seed it is impossible in unsupervised sites to guarantee that there is no contamination into neighboring land. There is no going back from this point, it is doubtful that Wales will ever be able to declare itself GM free again. This exact problem has surfaced across Northern and Southern America causing the integrity of organic produce there to constantly be undermined.
Secondly, corporations such as Monsanto have a history of suing farmers for breaching the patent on their seeds. Monsanto explain the reasoning behind this on their website. As director of a small business I would see what Harrington has done as be detrimental to the reputation of the product. It is for this reason that I would expect to see him being sued by the company involved.
It is sad to see Wales loose it's GM free status due to the irresponsible actions of this one individual. As GMOs are not allowed in organic farming I can only hope that farmers in the vicinity will not have their livelihoods threatened by the potential loss of their organic status.
Whatever your view on GM food Farmer Harrington's actions have to be seen as damaging. Not only does he undermine the arguments of the pro GMO campaigners but he heightens the fears and reservations that the public already have about Genetically modified foods.
UPDATE: There's a postcard campaign, just a bit of fun aimed at this farmer to join in here:
Further reading
Jonathon Harrington:
Check Biotech
BBC
The Guardian - Harrington's reasoning
GM Contamination:
The CS Monitor
Organic Processing Magazine
Reuters
