News › Attack on Rothamsted wheat trial

21 May 2012

On Sunday morning, 20th May, an intruder attempted to break into our experimental trial. The intruder caused significant, random property damage, but failed to disrupt the experiment in this attack. Officers from Hertfordshire Constabulary have arrested and charged the man with criminal damage.

We are very grateful to Hertfordshire Constabulary for their swift and decisive action to this intrusion and damage on our private land.

This vandalism is consistent with the threats made by the protest group "take the flour back" and despite our best efforts to engage with them over recent months we are disappointed by this course of action, attempting to destroy our scientific experiment through illegal activity.

The trial has been approved by the independent Government advisory group, ACRE (the Advisory Committee on Releases to the Environment), who said it was "satisfied that all appropriate measures have been taken to avoid adverse effects to human health and the environment from the proposed release" back in September 2011.”

Director Maurice Moloney said “This act of vandalism has attempted to deny us all the opportunity to gather knowledge and evidence, for current and future generations, on one possible technological alternative approach to get plants to defend themselves and therefore reduce pesticide use.

Professor Douglas Kell, BBSRC Chief Executive, said: "We were disappointed to hear that an individual has caused damage to the BBSRC-funded GM field trial at Rothamsted Research and condemn this act of vandalism. We strongly support the right of our funded scientists to carry out approved and regulated trials and we fully support the action of the police which prevented further science losses. We will now work closely with Rothamsted as they examine the extent of the damage cause and will provide all necessary funding and advice they need to complete the project.

"We understand that some people do not agree with this research and we encourage our funded scientists to engage with a range of views around their work. People have the right to make their views known but we deplore those that turn to criminal damage. We will support the police and Rothamsted in ensuring all appropriate action is now taken.

"The UK has a world-leading bioscience community that can help us to overcome many of the serious issues we face now and in the coming years. They cannot do this without conducting experiments and trials. This trial aims to generate the evidence and knowledge that all proponents in the GM debate would like to see.

"Damaging this trial is an attempt to remove one option for addressing significant challenges in global food security. It will not be the only option, but we believe that we should explore every potential approach and not to deprive society of tools for the future."

Rothamsted Research Press Office

For further information, please contact Darren Hughes, Head of Communications, on +44 (0) 1582 763 133 ext 2673, email darren.hughes@rothamsted.ac.uk

Rothamsted is the longest running agricultural research station in the world, providing cutting-edge science and innovation for nearly 170 years. Our mission is to deliver the knowledge and new practices to increase crop productivity and quality and to develop environmentally sustainable solutions for food and energy production. Our strength lies in our integrated, multidisciplinary approach to research in plant and soil science.

Rothamsted Research receives strategic funding from the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) . It is the longest running agricultural research station in the world, developing environmentally sustainable solutions for food and energy production through science and innovation for nearly 170 years.

About BBSRC

BBSRC is the UK funding agency for research in the life sciences and the largest single public funder of agriculture and food-related research.

Sponsored by Government, BBSRC's budget for 2011-12 is around £445M which it is investing in a wide range of research that makes a significant contribution to the quality of life in the UK and beyond and supports a number of important industrial stakeholders, including the agriculture, food, chemical, healthcare and pharmaceutical sectors.

BBSRC provides institute strategic research grants to the following:

The Babraham Institute, Institute for Animal Health, Institute for Biological, Environmental and Rural Sciences (Aberystwyth University), Institute of Food Research, John Innes Centre, The Genome Analysis Centre, The Roslin Institute (University of Edinburgh) and Rothamsted Research.

The Institutes conduct long-term, mission-oriented research using specialist facilities. They have strong interactions with industry, Government departments and other end-users of their research.

For more information see: www.bbsrc.ac.uk