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Confidence in Gwyther questioned

The National Assembly for Wales has betrayed its people today by giving the go-ahead for the first GM maize seed to go onto the market. This is despite the Agriculture Committee's advice to the Assembly Secretary for Agriculture and Rural Development, Christine Gwyther, not to list the seed. This raises the issue of confidence in Gwyther's position as she has collapsed under massive pressure from Westminster.

The vote on whether or not to List was 6-0 with the Tories, Lib Dem and Plaid Cymru voting against Listing; Labour abstaining. Christine Gwyther has completely failed the test for devolution by giving in to Westminster's demands.

The Agriculture Secretary had the opportunity to make a stand for Wales, by refusing to rubber-stamp Westminster's proposal to put GM on the National Seed List, but failed to score. This is despite the fact that the Assembly were given an independent legal opinion [1] setting out the legal grounds for refusing to List the seed, and that the crop hasn't been studied for harmful effects to human health or the environment [2]. Friends of the Earth Cymru has denounced the Assembly's decision as ‘appalling'.

The Agriculture and Rural Development Committee were discussing a recommendation to put a GM fodder maize seed onto the National Seed List. This is the final regulatory hurdle that a seed variety has to clear before it can be commercially grown and placed on the market in the UK [3].

FOE Cymru have repeatedly raised concerns with the Assembly over the lack of scientific information available for the seed to be put on the market. The risk assessment process that the maize went through in 1998 did not consider :

effects on human health,
possible delayed effects on animal health,
indirect environmental effects due to changes in crop management, and
effects on the soil [2].

Raoul Bhambral, FOE Cymru's GM Campaigner commented:

" Christine Gwyther's decision to allow the GM seed onto the market is appalling, and a terrible precedent. She has acted against her own conscience, the wishes of the people of Wales as well as those of the majority of the Agriculture Committee.

" This was the first GM seed to approach the market and there are several others on their way. It is unlikely that future seeds will be looked into in as much detail as this one which is very bad news. Gwyther has unfortunately failed the devolution test by collapsing under massive pressure from Westminster.

" This maize is intended for cattle yet there have been no safety assessments for animals eating GM feed. This ‘missing link' in GMO legislation is quite serious and it's shocking to find that we don't seem to have learned from the last animal feed scare. The Governments advisers seem to have stitched up the Assembly completely, by providing it with misleading and contradictory advice.

" This could have been a momentous day for the Assembly and the people of Wales. Instead it's one for Big Business."

Notes

[1] Steve Cragg is a leading public lawyer. He is a barrister specialising in public law and was previously Solicitor to the innovative Public Law Project. His legal opinion was entitled : In the matter of the powers of the National Assembly for Wales to refuse to enter Aventis' GM T25 maize on the UK National List.

[2] FOE Briefing : Aventis' GM ‘T25' maize does not meet current EU GMO standards.

[3] A number of hurdles have to be cleared before a GM crop can be commercially grown. First it must obtain an EU marketing consent under GMO rules. It then has to get Novel Food approval and be put on the National Seed List (the GM T25 maize in question, and a number of other GM crops, already have or purport to have, the first two). In the case of herbicide-tolerant crops (which includes the Gm maize) permission to use the herbicide must also be given. However, these crops can still be grown without the herbicide being used. A company might well do this, for example to multiply its GM seed.