THE High Court has refused to ban the planting of genetically modified sugar beet seeds at the Teagasc agricultural research centre in Carlow.
Mr Justice O'Sullivan said a member of Genetic Concern had failed to establish fears of potentially disastrous consequences to public health and the environment should the seed or pollen from the plant escape from the trial site.
He said an interlocutory order to ban the experiment had been brought by Ms Clare Watson on the basis of a quia timet injunction to prevent something from happening that she feared would happen.
Mr Justice O'Sullivan said to sustain such an injunction, the law required proof of a well-grounded apprehension of injury to the extent of a strong probability almost amounting to a moral certainty.
The application had been based on an apprehension as expressed by Ms Watson which did not establish sufficient probability.
Monsanto Plc, an international company, is seeking to produce a sugar beet which will be resistant to one of its most powerful weed-killers, RoundUp. Its experiment at Oak Park, Carlow, is part of Europe-wide trials.
Ms Watson, of Foster Avenue, Mount Merrion, Dublin, claimed that an escape of seed or pollen from the experimental site could create a nightmare scenario which would have disastrous consequences to public health and the environment.
Ms Fidelma Macken SC, for Monsanto, had submitted Ms Watson's evidence had fallen far short of proof and had been based on personal speculation.
Mr Justice O'Sullivan said Monsanto had been granted a licence on May 1st by the Environment Protection Agency to conduct the experiment. Ms Watson had been granted an interim injunction restraining the trials starting.
He was satisfied Ms Watson had established a substantial question to be heard at the trial on the regulations governing such tests. He did not, at this stage, have to make a decision accepting any of the evidence presented to the court.
. Following the judgment, Monsanto welcomed the decision and said it was an important day for Irish agriculture. Mr Sydney Reid, the company's Irish business manager, said the new sugar beet plants offered significant benefits for the environment.
He said the improved beet could tolerate the application of RoundUp herbicide over the growing crop, allowing growers to significantly reduce total herbicide applications. Similar trials had been approved and conducted since 1992 in eight European countries.
Genetic Concern, in a statement, said it was very concerned that genetically engineered seeds could now be planted in Ireland. It noted Monsanto's description of its work as "life sciences", rather than "genetic engineering", and said it was akin to renaming the Windscale nuclear power station Sellafield.