The decision by the Environmental Protection Agency to allow the US company, Monsanto, to increase the scale of its trials of genetically modified crops in Ireland has been greeted by expressions of "grave disappointment", outrage and frustration from environmental opponents.
The EPA is now applying similar conditions to those that it applied last year, though this is still the subject of judicial review proceedings brought by Genetic Concern.
The agency received more than 3,400 objections to the application to grow sugar beet with genes inserted in it to make it resistant to the company's herbicide, Round-Up.
Genetic Concern said yesterday that despite EPA assurances that the trial posed no danger to the environment or human health, the agency had effectively raised the scale of risk. It deplored the failure of the EPA to consult geneticists who submitted details of what they believed to be risks associated with the technology.
Its spokesman, Mr Quentin Gargan, questioned monitoring arrangements. "Last autumn in Holland, Monsanto's genetically engineered beet trial was accidentally harvested, processed and fed to animals before the error was reported."
The Green Party MEP, Ms Nuala Ahern, said she was outraged. Despite hype about the technology, she did not believe it had been sufficiently assessed. Until such time, a moratorium on trials should be applied.
"The new licence is based on faulty assurances from multinationals like Monsanto, as recent revelations in Britain have shown. Hundreds of acres of genetically engineered crops have been found in breach of regulations. GMOs have been found in fields of conventional crops," she said.
The party's spokeswoman on food, Ms Paula Giles, claimed the decision put in jeopardy Ireland's reputation as "a clean, green country which produces food that has not been tampered with".
The EPA said it had applied strict conditions. There would be regular monitoring by the agency and Monsanto would be required to submit monthly reports during the growing season. The trials will be on half-acre sites at Shanagarry and Buttevant, Co Cork; Arthurstown, Co Wexford; and in Tankardstown, Navan, and Thomastown, Dunshaughlin, Co Meath.
The agency acknowledged "public concern about the use of genetically modified organisms (GMOs)" and said this was taken fully into account. The EPA had engaged in "an extensive consultation process".
Monsanto underlined that the test would be carried out according to strict EU and Irish regulations. "At no stage will it enter any part of the food chain, so no potential risk arises," said Dr Patrick O'Reilly, the company's Irish business manager.
He added: "We can assure the Irish public that there is no risk to the environment. Genetic engineering has a 25-year record of safety. The technology has resulted in the production of insulin for diabetes and is routinely used in brewers' yeast and vegetarian cheese. Irish people consume products containing GMOs every day without any adverse effects."
