IN more arable regions of the UK, where advisors publicly reassure safety, GM trial zones are officially marked as sensitive areas on ballooning flight maps.

They are graded in the same way as foot and mouth zones and often fenced from the public. The official concern is contamination of non-GM crop, so we cannot fly within 1,500 feet and any landing would need an incident report.

Such conflicting official advice causes an atmosphere of distrust and uncertainty. I feel we have seen enough upset in our communities without capitulating on another indeterminant. My agricultural heritage, professional training and friendship with a former GM researcher, all draw me to scream ?NIMBY? about any such trials in the South West.

In my view, introducing GM is like having unnecessary cosmetic surgery; it may look good in the early years, but rarely complements nature with the passage of time.

With new science, older is sometimes wiser ? and our land is older than any of us. I ask our councillors to look to the Duchy example and build on what we organically do best in our area. If anything, this stance might just give us a competitive advantage over weaker regions.

Mark Warne

Down Road

Tavistock

ALONG with many others I applaud West Devon Borough Council for taking the lead yet again in environmental

responsibility by seeking to ban GM food planting in this area.

Our eco-culture is so fragile that to put this at risk for the sake of would be corporate millions is not to be countenanced.

Our rural farming community and organic farmers in particular, to whom such experimentation would spell devastation, deserve our support especially following foot and mouth in West Devon.

How grotesque it would be to allow such experimentation to bring havoc on our fragile and recovering rural economy! Your newspaper?s leading headline along with our West Devon organic farming mayor rightly focus on this alarming intrusion at a time when nature and all we take for granted needs to be conserved both for the farmers and the community whom they serve.

I do not believe that Cllr Eberlie?s suggestion of a full council meeting to include our farmers means the borough says no to a GM-free zone.

I am quite sure that there are many members on that council who, after discussion, will support West Devon being proclaimed a GM-free zone. This is an Independent-led council and although the party politicians may want to create mileage and publicity I suspect common sense will prevail.

Caroline Keane

Tavistock Town and West Devon Borough Council