Meath County Counil Unanimously Passes Green Motion on GM status

Meath Green Par

Meath County Council today(Monday) unanimously passed 2 motions proposed by Green Party Councillor Tom Kelly:-

(1) That County Meath be declared a GM Free county
(2) That the council call on the EPA to disallow experimental crops in the county.

Last Friday 5 May 2006 the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) gave the green light to German chemical company BASF to carry out a GM potato growing trial at Summerhill, Co Meath.

It also seems that the whole idea by BASF can be disallowed on planning and development grounds - change of use of agricultural land etc. GM Free status can also be included in the County Development Plan which is presently nearing completion.

Sargent calls on Govt to respect Meath Council decision to declare county as GM free zone

mike65

GM free? Can they guarantee that if a crop get contaminated by neighbours crop just over the county line? Nope of course not! More bull**** from Ballymagash councilers to make themselves free good.

A bit like Cork City declaring itself Nuclear free - which it is'nt (ask the university).

Mike.

Múinteoir

mike65 wrote:

GM free? Can they guarantee that if a crop get contaminated by neighbours crop just over the county line? Nope of course not! More bull**** from Ballymagash councilers to make themselves free good.

A bit like Cork City declaring iself Nuclear free - which it is'nt (ask the university).

Mike.

I think your missing the point of the motion. It's fundamentally aspirational of course, in order to make a point. Of course they can't stop GM contamination across county borders. But as it stands, the trials in County Meath will be the only ones in the country. So they're attempting to nip it in the bud by showing their opposition, before there is wholesale GM production nationwide following on from trials in Meath.

mike65

I was taking a long view. GMOs will be here no doubt, regardless of need.

Mike.

lostexpectation

i have to agree with mike, hopefully there will be delay, but this is late bluster, why did all parties agree to this otherwise?

but remember folks GMO, its not about science!

dahamsta

mike65 wrote:

A bit like Cork City declaring itself Nuclear free - which it is'nt (ask the university).

Wasn't the reactor decommissioned a long time ago? I walked past it recently and the building looked abandoned.

mike65

I'm going on a google but I found this pdf and presume its issued for a reason!

Mike.

dahamsta

That seems to be about radioactivity Mike; I'd imagine most colleges do research into radioactivity. Every dental hospital would have to have one of those policies anyway, because of the x-ray machines (CUH is UCC's).

If we're going to use radioactivity as the deciding factor for nukler-free zones, we'll need to stop everyone at the county borders and take watches with luminous dials, glow-in-the-dark toys, etc.

ISAW

Meath Green Par wrote:

Meath County Council today(Monday) unanimously passed 2 motions proposed by Green Party Councillor Tom Kelly:-

(1) That County Meath be declared a GM Free county
(2) That the council call on the EPA to disallow experimental crops in the county.

I find this "unanimous" suggestion difficult to accept. Have you a link to the actual vote and who voted?
Actually I found them myself:
http://www.meath.ie/MinuteLibrary/minutes_lists.htm
the May meeting minutes are not available yet. when they are i would be surprised if all the councillors attended and all voted in favour of the motion which is what "unanimous" means.
Maybe that did vote that way. I have yet to see evidence of that though.

lostexpectation

yeah the minutes won't be put up for ages, but i found this which seems to corroborate the meeting...

http://dominichannigan.blogspot.com/

Later on at the Meath County Council meeting in Navan we debated a motion from Tom Kelly of the Meath Green Party as to whether GM crops should be allowed in Meath. All Councillors agreed to oppose the proposed trials. Hopefully that will stop the company in their tracks.

I guess those FF/FG and INDustrial councillors might have their own reason for voting against it, or maybe it just for show as they know it will go ahead anyway... cause David Byrne said so.

Múinteoir

Kildare has now followed suit:

http://www.unison.ie/irish_independent/stories.php3?ca=9&si=1711323&issue_id=14799

Councillors declare a 'GMO-free' zone


KILDARE County Council has declared the area to be a "GMO-free zone" in a unanimous decision by local councillors.

The decision promises the council will "take all possible measures necessary to promote and maintain Kildare as a genetically modified crop-free zone in order to protect the interests of farmers and to encourage development of our valuable agricultural industry".

The decision taken at a meeting on Monday was hailed by the Irish Cattle and Sheep Farmers Association and by local chef Olivier Pauloin-Valory from Les Olives restaurant in Naas.

"This is a delicious decision. As a member of Euro-toques which represents Europe's 3,000 leading chefs, I refuse to serve any GM food to my customers. The future of the restaurant business in this country depends on keeping our food safe and free of all GM ingredients," he said.

However, the decision does not have any binding authority as the Environmental Protection Agency is the body charged with deciding on whether GM crops can be grown, and local authorities do not have the right to veto their decisions.