Archived press release

Government to decide on commercial approval for GM crops before trials end

31 January 2000

The Government may grant commercial approval to a type of 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.

Later this week a Government committee [1] will 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 [2] 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 [3] 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 (FOE) 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 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” [4] - something the Minister is not yet in a position to know.

GM maize is only the tip of the iceberg. FOE has learnt [5] 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.

Pete Riley, Biotechnology Campaigner at Friends of the Earth said,

“Ministers must keep their clear promise to the public. They must prevent these GM crops getting commercial approval before the threat they pose to the environment is known. If these crops do get approval the farm scale trials will lose whatever credibility they have left, and public confidence in the Government's handling of this issue will reach new depths.

We have long suspected that the biotech industry was in the driving seat - we must now see whether or not the Government gives them the green light to go forward down the road to commercial development .”

NOTES TO EDITORS

[1] A MAFF technical committee is meeting on Wednesday and Thursday (2/3 February) this week to start discussions on giving National Seed Listing to GM fodder maize (T25 maize). Two further committees will also discuss listing before a recommendation is made on the 16th February, and published at the end of the month.
[2] 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.

[3] October 21, 1998 House of Lords Select Committee on European Affairs Vol 2 Evidence from Michael Meacher, column 603-635.

[4] The rules currently governing National Seed Listing state that :”The Ministers shall refuse an application for the entry of a plant variety in a National List if it appears to them that...the cultivation in the United Kingdom of the variety is likely to affect adversely the health of any persons, animals or plants.”

[5] Letter to FOE from MAFF (17 January 2000) with updated table showing details of current National List applications. This reveals that eight spring oilseed varieties (including three which could be added to the National Seed List as early as March 2000) , six winter oilseed rape, six sugar beet, two maize and one fodder beet are well on the way to gaining the necessary variety approvals.

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