In July 2012, the Environmental Protection Agency gave Teagasc permission to start a controversial, three-year, field-based research study of a genetically modified potato at its facility in Oak Park, Co Carlow.
The study is aimed at quantifying the impact of the GM potato on soil microbes, and the impact of Phytophthora infestans, the organism that causes blight, on the GM potato.
Teagasc emphasizes that it is not producing GM potatoes for production or commercial purposes. Its role, it says, is to investigate the potential negative and/or positive impacts of GM technology and then inform stakeholders and the general public as to conclusions drawn.
Read the full, original story here: “Is this the start of a GM future for Irish farming?”
