By Andrew Jarret and Jennifer Cosgrove

GENETICALLY-MODIFIED seeds sown in a trial location near Arbroath could have posed a “serious risk” to the environment, the Scottish Government admitted yesterday.

Corrective measures have been taken after trial sowings of a new variety of oilseed rape at three sites in Scotland were found to contain small amounts of “unauthorised” GM material.

The seeds were sown at two sites in Aberdeenshire and one “near Arbroath”—but a Scottish Government spokesman said that the specific location of the Angus plot would not be divulged due to the possibility it could be targeted by anti-GM protesters.

Inspectors from the Scottish Government’s GM Inspectorate will ensure plants on the trial plots are destroyed.

Plans to sow seeds at other sites across England and Scotland have also been stopped.

The seed has been sent to the National Institute of Agricultural Botany (NIAB) to be destroyed.

The Scottish Government did not go into detail about how the blunder was allowed to happen, but environment minister Michael Russell said the situation had now been contained and there were no “current” risks to human or animal health, or to the environment.

He said, “The Scottish Government are working with stakeholders to understand how this occurred, and to ensure that it never happens again.

“Had these plants been allowed to mature, the risk to the environment could have been very serious.

“However, prompt action is ensuring that the situation is remedied.”

Mr Russell said it further emphasised the continuing need for rigorous controls on GM material and for Scotland to remain a GM crop-free zone.

In this case a risk to the environment would only have been present if the plants were allowed to mature and produce pollen and set seeds, which could spread or persist in the environment.

No GM crop may be grown in Europe unless it has explicit approval for cultivation.

Campaign group GM Freeze yesterday called for a thorough investigation into how the rape seeds became contaminated with unauthorised GM traits, as well as for improvements to seed import controls.

Oilseed rape has been contaminated with GM in the UK before—in 2000 and 2002.

Pete Riley of the group said, “We have been fortunate that this GM contamination incident only involved trial plots and not a seed lot, which would have been planted commercially.

“The relevant authorities need to move quickly to investigate this incident and identify where procedures could be improved to prevent it happening again.

“They need to pay particular attention to the country of origin of this seed and review whether it is sensible to take seed from there.

“The implication of widespread GM contamination of oilseed rape crops are enormous both economically and, potentially, for public health.”

North East Tory MSP Alex Johnstone, himself a farmer, said, “These incidents are deeply regrettable and do the industry no good at all when they occur.

“This demonstrates a need for even greater vigilance when dealing with GM crops and I am delighted that the contamination has been caught and contained in time.

“Whilst GM crops have traditionally received a bad press, I have monitored their progress closely for some years and ironically they do have the potential to achieve a great deal and may offer more secure food production in the future.

“Unfortunately, incidents such as these do nothing to raise the public’s confidence in them.”