Scientists attack scorpion venom tests

SOME of the country's leading scientists have called on the Government to halt an experiment in which a genetically engineered pesticide that is 'turbo-charged' with scorpion venom will shortly be released in Oxfordshire.

The scientists say the risks of the experiment are unknown, and fear the viral pesticide could spread beyond the test field - passing on the scorpion gene it carries. They have asked the Government to delay the release of the virus for a year.

The experiment has been given full safety clearance by government advisers. Scientists will sprinkle caterpillars on to young cabbages that are being planted out next week. The engineered virus should be sprayed on to the plants within a month - and the caterpillars should be dead a fortnight later.

But some scientists, including Britain's best-known genetic scientist, Steve Jones, Professor of Genetics at University College London and the 1991 Reith lecturer, argue that vandals or birds could rip open the fine netting over the test plots and allow infected caterpillars or virus particles to escape.

The modified virus might then combine with wild viruses and infect insects other than the caterpillars at which it is aimed, upsetting the natural balance between species.

The opponents are also angry that the test is taking place in a field less than half-a-mile from Wytham Woods, one of Britain's most sensitive ecological havens.

The pesticide is one of the first genetically engineered organisms to have been released in Britain.

The team conducting the experiments says that precautions taken to keep the caterpillars in, and predators out, have considerably reduced any risks.

David Bishop, who heads the team, said yesterday the chance of the virus being passed on beyond the target caterpillars is so small it can be discounted. He also pointed out that the work could lead to pesticides so precisely targeted that they are more environmentally benign than today's catch-all chemicals.

Professor Bishop said the objectors had come across the experiments late - he has been conducting field trials on the engineered virus for the past four years.

Delays in handling paperwork at the Department of the Environment meant the objectors received detailed information about the experiment only after it had been approved by the government's safety advisers.

Professor Jones was alerted to the work by George Smith, a resident of nearby Eynsham village and materials scientist at Oxford University.

In a letter to Dr Smith he said: 'It seems unlikely that the released virus is absolutely guaranteed to stay inside the enclosures.'

He concludes that although the risk of damage from the work is very small indeed: 'It (the proposal) is just too damned anxious to minimise the chances of anything going wrong.'

Scientists' worries, page 3

Leading article, page 15