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GM crop trail results published
Environment Secretary Margaret Beckett today received the results of the Farm Scale Evaluations of three herbicide-tolerant GM crops - maize, beet and spring oilseed rape.
The Government-sponsored evaluations have been carried out over a three-year period to test the impact on farmland wildlife of the herbicide use associated with these crops.
The results will now be passed to the Government’s statutory advisory body - the Advisory Committee on Releases to the Environment (ACRE) - who will advise on their implications, possibly by December or early January. In the light of this advice the Government will decide the UK’s position on whether these specific crops should be approved for commercial cultivation in the European Union (EU).
The Government will also be reflecting on the findings of its GM dialogue - the public debate, the science review, and the costs and benefits study - as well as a forthcoming report on the coexistence of GM and non-GM crops. It will decide its overall policy on GM crops in the light of all the available evidence.
Mrs Beckett said that the Government’s overriding concern was to protect human health and the environment, and to ensure genuine consumer choice. She added:
“We persisted with this research despite the activities of some anti-GM campaigners, including serious attempts to destroy the trial sites. So I am very pleased that the results are now available - we have said all the way through what have been fairly difficult years that they would provide valuable additional information to test the potential impact of growing and managing these crops on farmland wildlife. This is one of the environmental criteria that each application must meet.”
The trial results will also be forwarded to other EU member states. A number of applications for the import or cultivation of GM crops are currently being considered by the EU.
Current EU legislation requires decisions to be taken on the basis of the evidence presented for each crop. No final decisions on applications for cultivation are likely at EU level until the New Year. Any decision is subject to collective agreement by member states.
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