Archived press release

Government advisors raise concens ahead of EU GM vote

15 June 2004

UK Government GM advisors have raised serious concerns about a genetically modified food which may be licensed for sale in Europe [1]. The fate of Monsanto's GM oilseed rape, which has been given the all-clear by the EU GM food safety body [2], will be decided by officials from all 25 Member States tomorrow (Wednesday 16 June). However, despite the concern of the UK's Advisory Committee on Releases to the Environment (ACRE), it is still unclear which way the UK Government will vote.

The vote will take place in an EU regulatory committee, where the UK will be represented by DEFRA officials. The Monsanto oilseed rape, called GT73, has been modified to resist the company's chemical herbicide.

ACRE has raised the following concerns about the GM oil seed rape:

• A confidential Monsanto feeding study on rats showed that those fed the GM oilseed rape had a 15 per cent increase in liver weights. ACRE demanded "a satisfactory explanation for this potentially adverse response observed in the rat feeding study...". The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) dismissed this as "incidental".

• Seed spills are likely to occur and will result in the survival and establishment of feral oilseed rape populations which could cross-breed with non-GM oilseed rape crops.

• Monsanto has failed to produce an adequate monitoring plan or an emergency plan should imported oilseed rape seeds escape into the environment (through spillage during transport for example).

Clare Oxborrow, Friends of the Earth's GM-Free Britain campaigner said:

"The UK must reject this unsafe and unwanted GM food. Its scientific advisors have raised serious concerns about the safety and environmental impact of this product. The Government must stand up for British public and environment and vote against this GM oil seed rape."

The vote will be seen as a test case for the newly expanded EU following the European Commission's decision last month to force through the first GM food in over 5 years [3]. The result will be closely watched by the US Government which has started a trade dispute in the World Trade Organisation (WTO). US officials recently stated that "the approval of a single product does not affect our WTO challenge, ...[the lifting of the moratorium] does not indicate there is a consistently functioning approval process" [4].

Notes

1. Advisory Committee on Release to the Environment (ACRE) opinion
www.defra.gov.uk/environment/acre/advice/pdf/acre_advice36.pdf (PDF†)

2. The European Food Safety Authority opinion can be found here:
www.efsa.eu.int/science/gmo/gmo_opinions/174_en.html

3. On 19th May the European Commission approved the import of a GM sweet corn after sufficient Member States failed to support it. This was the first new product authorised in Europe since 1998.

4. Statement by US trade spokesperson Christopher Padilla, New York Times, 15 May 2004, "Europeans Appear Ready To Approve A Biotech Corn"

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Published by Friends of the Earth Trust