Research confirms that GM late blight resistant potatoes have the potential to significantly reduce the fungicide load on the environment and hence provide an economic advantage to farmers. Teagasc researcher Dr. Ewen Mullins said: “It is not enough to simply look at the benefits without also considering the potential costs. We need to investigate whether there are long term impacts associated with this specific GM crop and critically we need to gauge how the late blight disease itself responds. This is not just a question being asked in Ireland. The same issues are arising across Europe.”
