Chemicals manufacturing corporation BASF is hoping to trial crops of genetically modified blight-resistant potatoes in the UK next year, it has been revealed.
The potatoes contain two genes from wild potatoes produced in America which are resistant to late blight - a disease that can affect up to ten per cent of British crops, costing growers £2 billion a year.
Three different varieties will be planted in five acres near Cambridge between April and October, pending approval from environment secretary David Milliband.
Friends of the Earth has opposed the move, complaining that the consumer food chain will become contaminated. But BASF has offered assurance that potatoes from the trials will be carefully destroyed “under strict supervision”
BASF previously trialled the potatoes in Sweden and Germany with “outstanding” results, but says commercial trials are a long way off and that it could take up to ten years to select a final variety.
