Go identifies threats to British gardens

Monday, February 05 2007 12:45:34 by Editor

Garden Organic (Go), one of the country's leading organisations for organic growing, has identified major threats to British gardens and hopes that by raising awareness on the issue and lobbying parliament, more will be done to prevent the demise of the domestic garden.

Led by the chief executive of Go, Dr Susan Kay-Williams, the campaign highlights problems including 'Terminator' seeds, garden grabbing, genetically modified (GM) crops and the meaning of the word organic.

Garden grabbing has become more prevalent in recent times. With councils increasingly looking for space for more housing and other community projects, back gardens – which are also termed as brownfield sites – are being allowed to be used for redevelopment.

"Current national planning rules put profit before people," insisted Dr Kay-Williams. "Greedy developers have carte blanche to rip up gardens and to cram the entire green space with flats."

The introduction of 'Terminator' seeds, which are genetically engineered to be sterile and GM crops are also a cause for concern to Go, particularly because of the secrecy surrounding the practice.

Dr Kay-Williams commented: "Under the Department for Energy, Food and Rural Affairs proposals for co-existence, gardeners are not obliged to tell you they are growing GM material or leave any separation distance and you'd have no legal redress for any cross-contamination you suffered."

Go is also worried that the word 'organic' may be being mis-applied to certain non-food stuffs – misleading the buyers as well as fooling companies who are paying a premium for top-rate produce.

"Organic is legally defined for food production, but not for non-food areas. Companies can use the word 'organic' on garden inputs without the produce having to be certified. We will work to explain organic systems to gardeners and growers and not devalue the term for marketing purposes," Dr Kay-Williams said.

track © Adfero Ltd