HALF of scientific research centres claim GM crop vandalism is resulting in work being lost to rivals in the United States and the Far East.

The wrecking of experiments is also costing firms thousands of pounds in extra security and insurance.

There has been publicity about the 100 or so incidents on farms that took part in the Government’s official GM tests and many farmers and their families were intimidated by protesters. However, as GM test results are announced today, it has emerged that other vital experiments on crops have been destroyed by protesters.

According to a survey of the top ten UK establishments, which employ 3,805 people and account for a total spending of £131 million, there have been 28 acts of vandalism.

The GM trials were saved on the sites that were attacked, but other experiments — many funded by the taxpayer — have been written off. Many scientists fear that there may not be a long-term future for their work in the UK.

Several establishments have been forced to invest huge amounts on security. One has paid out £80,000 and is spending an additional £30,000 each year for 24-hour security patrols. Insurance premiums have also increased, largely because insurance companies are extending the definition of “terrorism”.

The climate is making it difficult for firms to rent land for trials or to find farmers willing to allow research.

A real concern is that the morale of research scientists has been affected. One comment was: “Staff do not like to feel their work is antisocial.”

However, six establishments said that morale had been affected by negative media reports about crop research and that there were deep worries about future fuding for research.

The report states: “The threat of vandalism has affected research plans in half of the responding institutions. Because the possible risk of vandalism appears to be impingeing on planning, expenditure, morale and willingness to participate in research, questions are being raised about the UK as a site of research and the future of those engaged in it.”

Tony Blair is being urged to consider the future of crop research to ensure safeguards for any field trials involving controversial technology.

The survey was compiled by Tracey Brown, director of Sense about Science. Further work is being conducted to show how scientific research has become a political battleground and is being undermined by a hardline group of animal rights activists. “The burden of trying to organise the research community to pre-empt and protect from vandalism is potentially disastrous,” she said.

“Research sites cannot and should not have to be policed night and day and this is not just a question of law and order. As a society we need to support research more firmly and to be aware of how profoundly our (often publicly funded) research activity is affected by saboteurs conducting media and political stunts.”

John Pidgeon, 57, lost research worth nearly £100,000 when vandals pulled up sugar beet crops used to research drought tolerance for sub-Saharan Africa. Dr Pidgeon, director of Bloom’s Barn research station, part of the respected Rothamsted Research Institute, said: “Drought is going to be the top problem for half the world in the 21st century. It will be agriculture’s biggest problem and certainly the biggest problem in the Third World. We are doing the research on GM crops, but people don’t want us to publish our work. The public has a right to know.”

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