From Ben Ayliffe, Greenpeace UK
That genetically modified sugar beet is up to “15 to 50 per cent better for the environment” than conventional varieties is a rather strange assertion (6 December 2003, p 17). The Richard Phipps study you reported has yet to be published in a peer-reviewed journal. There is, however, clear scientific evidence showing the environmental harm that GM sugar beet will cause: the recent farm-scale evaluations were a case in point.
Further research by the UK government also found that “the consequences of introducing GM sugar beet were extremely severe, with a rapid decline, and the extinction of the skylark in 20 years”. Add to this the pronouncements from the government’s GM Science Review about its inherent unpredictability, and all of a sudden GM sugar beet looks distinctly less palatable.
London, UK
