Carwyn Jones must stick to his guns on GM

Friends of the Earth Cymru has called on Welsh Environment Minister Carwyn Jones to hold the Assembly's line on genetically modified (GM) crops as pressure mounts on him to approve commercialisation of the first GM crop for UK agriculture. News reports [1] suggest that the UK Government wishes to add the GM maize ChardonLL to the UK National Seed List. To do so would require the consent of the Assembly Government [2] which has recently heralded its restrictive stance on GM crops [3].

In March 2003 Friends of the Earth Cymru published a legal opinion from top lawyers, Nicholas Cooke QC and Stephen Cragg [4], which makes it clear that the Assembly does have the legal power to refuse to add the GM maize variety ChardonLL to the National List of Seed Varieties.

The group has been working with the Farmers Union of Wales, GM Free Cymru, Carmarthen Gene Concern and the National Federation of Women's Institutes - Wales to persuade the Assembly Government block ChardonLL and take other steps to stop GM crops being grown in Wales [5].

Concerns remain, however, that Carwyn Jones may back down in the face of intense pressure from Whitehall to list the seed.

Julian Rosser, Director of Friends of the Earth Cymru commented,

"The Assembly Government has taken a lead in Europe with its precautionary stance on GM. The work that Carwyn Jones did was important in securing new European laws on separation distances between GM and normal crops. It's important that he does nothing to jeopardise that position now.

"It looks like Tony Blair has made up his mind in favour of GM crops and that the Assembly will be expected to get in line. Yet there are still many unanswered concerns about ChardonLL. There simply isn't the evidence to say that it is safe for animals, humans or the environment. There are even grave doubts about whether it produces a decent crop of maize. With so many reasons to say 'no', the Assembly Government must listen to the public and refuse to back down."

Notes

[1] Newsnight, BBC2, Wednesday 18 February 2004.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/3501669.stm

[2] Cooke and Cragg point out that, "there remains only one National Seed List for the whole of the UK and the term National Authorities is specifically defined to mean each of the relevant devolved authorities "acting jointly" (reg. 2(1)). As a result no decision to add ChardonLL to the National List under Reg. 5 may be made without the agreement of all of the relevant authorities.

[3] "The National Assembly for Wales is, as you know, committed to applying the most restrictive approach possible to the commercialisation of GM crops allowed by EU and UK legislation." Rhodri Morgan AM, Tuesday 10 February 2004, Assembly Record.
"Farm scale evaluation results back Assembly position on GM crops, says Carwyn Jones", Welsh Assembly Government Press Release, 16 October 2003.

[4] www.foe.co.uk/cymru/english/press_releases/ ¬
2003/pants_to_gm.html
For the legal opinion itself: www.foe.co.uk/resource/evidence/ ¬
na_refuse_chardonll_list.pdf (PDF†)

[5] www.foe.co.uk/resource/briefings/ ¬
naw_gm_crops.pdf (PDF†)

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