Government prepares to decide commercial approval for GM crops before trial ends31 January 2000
The Government may grant commercial approval to a type of genetically modified (GM) maize despite assurances that it would "not travel further down the road to commercialisation" before completion of the farm scale trials programme in 2003.
A Government committee is due to consider an application for GM maize to be added to the National Seed List - the first time a GM crop has been put forward for listing. National Seed Listing is the final regulatory hurdle that a GM variety has to clear before it can be commercially grown and placed on the market in the UK.
Ministers have repeatedly promised that GM crops will not be commercially grown until their safety has been established. Environment Minister Michael Meacher told a House of Lords Committee in 1998 that "the results of these farm-scale evaluations will be carefully assessed before we move further. I feel it is extremely important that we do not travel further down the road to commercialisation of GM crops before we have this information. If, during this process, we do find evidence of harm, then we can take appropriate action".
Friends of the Earth has written to Agriculture Minister Nick Brown urging him to prevent the GM maize being added to the National Seed List. The letter says "Despite the reservations Friends of the Earth (FOE) has expressed regarding these farm-scale trials, the Government's position is that the trials are necessary for determining the relative environmental effects of commercially growing GM crops. The logic of this position is that, as such, it must be premature for them to be approved for marketing... in advance of those effects having been properly assessed." The National Seed List rules also state that Ministers must refuse an application if "the variety is likely to affect adversely the health of persons, animals or plants" - something the Minister is not yet in a position to know.
GM maize is only the tip of the iceberg. FOE has learnt that another seven varieties of GM seed could be added to the National Seed List in 2000, and that at least 24 GM varieties are in the pipeline for approval before the completion of the farm scale trials. Three applications for GM marketing consent are at the later stages of the regulatory process and may be approved this spring.
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