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Controversial: A designer crop has been genetically engineered to produce cod liver oil
Owen Paterson’s environment department, Defra, announced it had rubber stamped the first GM field test in three years.
Scientists will start planting the crop next month in a heavily guarded field in Hertfordshire, in the first stage of a trial that will last four years.
Rothamsted Research - the body behind the trial - claim the crop, Camelina sativa, will create a synthetic form of cod liver oil that could be sold on shop shelves by 2020.
The scientists developed the engineered plant by ‘cutting and pasting’ genes from algae into a tall, spindly flax plant similar to oil seed rape.
They claim the crop produces the same amount of healthy omega-3 fatty acids as fish oils.
Opponents of ‘Frankenstein foods’ are worried about hidden ecological and health risks of the crop, which have not yet been tested.
They also view the approval as further evidence of the Environment Secretary’s unbridled enthusiasm for GM technology.
Mr Paterson has warned that Britain risks becoming the ‘museum of world farming’ if it does not embrace GM - and dismissed opponents of the science as ‘wicked’.
Professor Johnathan Napier, lead scientist at the taxpayer-funded Rothamsted research project, claims the technology will take pressure off dwindling fish stocks.
'Frankenfish': The process means you no longer need actual fish, like the mackerel pictured, to produce fish oil
Speaking to the Mail in January he said: ‘We are interested in producing fish oils in plants because fish oils, and the long-chained omega 3 fatty acids, are known to be very important for human health and nutrition.
‘Global fish stocks are in decline so there is a problem of the availability of fish for these fatty acids.’
Laboratory experiments have shown that by inserting up to seven genes from algae into Camelina, the plant can produce two key omega-3 fatty acids that are normally obtained from oily fish, eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) anddocosahexaenoic acid (DHA).
The acids are linked to health benefits for the heart, brain and nervous system and are thought to provide greater protection against diseases such as Alzheimer’s.
Rothamsted said its initial hopes for the new crop is as a feed in fish farms, which consume 80 per cent of fish oil supplies.
But Professor Napier said that by the end of the decade, the GM-produced oil could be sold for human consumption as an omega-3 supplement or as an addition to food products such as margarine.
He added: ‘By the end of this decade, there’s a possibility that people will be able to obtain a GM plant-based source of fish oils.’
Supporter: Secretary of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, Owen Patterson, approved the test
But he admitted none of the oil had so far been consumed by humans and it would need to pass rigorous health checks before it could enter the food chain.
GM Freeze director Liz O’Neill said: ‘We know that the Environment Secretary Owen Paterson strongly favours GM, but rushing a poor trial into the ground just to prove a political point really isn’t going to win the confidence of the British public or strike most people as a good use of public money.’
Dr Ricarda Steinbrecher, a geneticist at EcoNexus, a non-profit research organisation in Oxford, said genetic engineering risked introducing unintended DNA mutations.
WHAT IS CAMELINA SATIVA?
- A genetically engineered crop designed to produce a synthetic form of cod liver oil.
- Scientists engineered the plant by ‘cutting and pasting’ genes from algae into a tall, spindly flax plant similar to oil seed rape.
- The crop produces the same amount of omega-3 fatty acids as fish oils.
- Supporters claim it will take pressure off the world’s depleting fish stocks.
- Opponents worried about hidden ecological and health risks of the crop, which have not yet been tested.
‘Risks arise not only from the new trait and the interference caused by the new genes but also from the many DNA mutations that occur during the engineering processes.
‘Will the plant still produce all its original nutrients? Will it produce toxins? Will it still be safe to consume?’
In the last decade only four GM field trials have been approved - three for blight-resistant potatoes and one, in 2011, for aphid resistant wheat.
If it passes the tests it would still have a long way to go before it could be commercially developed.
Only one crop has ever been approved for commercial cultivation in Europe, an insect-resistant corn variety given the go-ahead in 1998.
Contentious: The plan will enrage anti-GM campaigners, pictured here in a 2012 protest in Hertfordshire
A spokesman for the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs said: ‘Defra has granted statutory consent to Rothamsted Research to carry out a small-scale field trial of genetically modified (GM) camelina plants.
‘The GM camelina has been modified to produce omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids in its seed oils.
‘The trial will test the performance and yield of the GM camelina under field conditions. The trial is due to start this spring and run until 2017 on the Rothamsted estate in Harpenden, Hertfordshire.’
‘Conditions have been imposed on the trial to ensure that it is conducted safely, and the GM plants will not be allowed to enter the food or feed chain.’
Rothamsted Research said: ‘The controlled experiment will be carried out at Rothamsted Research and sowing of Camelina seeds will take place by mid-May this year.
‘The plants will be harvested August/September 2014, and a small amount of seed will be used to analyse the oil content, with all the rest of the seed and plant material will be destroyed according to the consent’s conditions.
‘The GM inspectorate of the Food and Environment Research Agency will be carrying out regular inspections.’
Professor Martin Parry, acting director of Rothamsted Research said: ‘We are delighted to be in position to carry out the field trial and to further assess the potential of these GM plants to contribute, as one of many solutions, to the important environmental sustainability issue of providing omega-3 fish oils.’
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