There were renewed calls for an immediate halt to GM crop trials last night after evidence emerged of contamination in the food chain at a Scottish site.

Scientists found alien genetically modified material in honey from beehives two miles away from a Government- supervised test site in Newport-on-Tay, Fife.

Anti-GM campaigners said there would be an even greater risk of cross-contamination of the food chain from the trials at farms in Aberdeenshire and on the Black Isle, since they had been going on longer.

The latest development comes after a Scottish Parliament committee announced plans to hold an inquiry into GM crops.

Anthony Jackson, who led the Munlochy vigil, said the test results proved that the buffer zones ordered by the Government around the sites were not big enough to protect neighbouring farms.

He said: "We have been warning about this for a long time.

"It makes a mockery of the Government's separation zones. As we have been saying all along, these crops should not be grown in an open environment. There is going to be cross-contamination, and that is very serious."

Kevin Stewart, of Grampian Against GM, described the findings as "extremely worrying" and said more research was needed into the possible environmental outcomes.

He said: "These farm-scale trials are not safe and there should be a moratorium at once. If these results have been found at Newport-on-Tay, then at Daviot, which is one of the longest-running trial sites, the same will be happening there."

The latest tests, which were conducted by the German-based Genescan laboratory, found GM material in honey sold from farmer David Rolfe's hives at Wester Friarton.

The findings, published in a Sunday newspaper, also state that the GM organisms could have come only from the trial site.

Mr Rolfe is one of several Scottish farmers taking part in the farm-scale trials of oilseed rape, grown by biotechnology giant Aventis.

North-east SNP MSP Brian Adam accused Environment Minister Ross Finnie of "dithering" over the GM issue and said a firm decision was needed to halt the trials at once.

"The Scottish Executive has been warned about this for some time," he said. "The scientific evidence is not good enough to let these trials continue.

"Ministers in other countries have been bold enough to make decisions on this issue, but Ross Finnie seems to suffer from indecision and is not in tune with public opinion."

However, Gordon Liberal Democrat MSP Nora Radcliffe said calls for the trials to be halted immediately were alarmist and insisted that each case should be judged on its own merits.

She said: "Nobody has come to a hard and fast conclusion about whether GM in respect of crops is likely to be a benefit or not."

A Scottish Executive spokesman said: "We have not seen the results of these tests but would treat any such finding extremely seriously."

David Mckay

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