Protection of plants
Sir: The Treasury refusal of a grant towards the £450,000 to keep the Gainsborough in Britain may be a tad decision', but those who wish to enjoy it can still travel to the US and see it. The 126 vegetable varieties that the August issue of the Plant Varieties and Seeds Gazette makes it illegal to sell or even to catalogue without risking a fine of £400, will soon be gone forever. The Plant Varieties and Seeds Act of 1964 as amended by the European Communities Act of 1972 applies to all EEC countries. The effect on our genetic heritage is horrifying.
Seed of most of our wild flowers is stored in the Gene Bank run at Wakehurst Place by Kew by methods that will keep it safe for 200 years. There is a potato gene bank in Peru, one for maize in Mexico, one for rice in the Philippines and others for almost everything, but nothing anywhere in the world to protect our *vegetables from the vandalism of the Ministries of Agriculture of Europe.
The latest estimate for establishing a Vegetable Gene Bank is £277,000 (far less than keeping that Gainsborough in Britain) to hold sealed foil packets of all discarded vegetable varieties, described in readable computer print, for the benefit of the plant breeders of the future in all countries. Wr would be very glad to post a report on the conservation of vegetable varieties, which we have prepared to enlist the help of our fellow gardeners in all EEC countries, to any reader sending a stamped addressed envelope.
Lawrence D. Hills Henry Doubleday Research Association, Bocking, Braintree, Essex
Previous page
