Originally from: Farmtalking
                        
From: ...

Originally from DEFRA

http://www.defra.gov.uk/news/latest/2003/fseresults.htm

Environment Secretary Margaret Beckett today received the results of the Farm Scale Evaluations of three herbicide-tolerant GM crops – maize, beet and spring oilseed rape. The Government-sponsored evaluations have been carried out over a three-year period to test the impact on farmland wildlife of the herbicide use associated with these crops.

The results will now be passed to the Government's statutory advisory body – the Advisory Committee on Releases to the Environment (ACRE) – who will advise on their implications. In the light of ACRE's advice Ministers will decide the UK's position on whether these specific crops should be approved for commercial cultivation in the EU.

There are currently no GM crops being grown in the UK and none have all the approvals required for commercial cultivation. No GM crops can be sown without further regulatory approval which cannot take place until next spring at the earliest. We expect to receive ACRE's advice in December or early January.

In parallel the Government will also be reflecting on the findings of its GM dialogue – the public debate, the science review, and the costs and benefits study – as well as a forthcoming report on the coexistence of GM and non-GM crops. It will decide its overall policy on GM crops in the light of all the available evidence.

Mrs Beckett commented:

"The Government commissioned this research – the biggest GM crop trials anywhere in the world – to address a specific gap in our knowledge. The trials demonstrate the precautionary approach which the Government has taken on GM crops from the start. The results will be considered as part of the comprehensive risk assessment undertaken for every GM crop.

"We persisted with this research despite the activities of some anti-GM campaigners, including serious attempts to destroy the trial sites. So I am very pleased that the results are now available – we have said all the way through what have been fairly difficult years that they would provide valuable additional information to test the potential impact of growing and managing these crops on farmland wildlife. This is one of the environmental criteria that each application must meet.."

"The results will not only inform the UK Government's position. We are forwarding them to all other EU member states. They will also, no doubt, want to consider them very carefully.

"I shall reflect carefully on these results and the outcome of the public debate. I have said consistently that the Government is neither pro- nor anti-GM crops – our over-riding concern is to protect human health and the environment, and to ensure genuine consumer choice."

A number of applications for the import or cultivation of GM crops are currently being considered by the EU. Current EU legislation requires decisions to be taken on the basis of the evidence presented for each crop. No final decisions on applications for cultivation are likely at EU level until the New Year. Any decision is subject to collective agreement by member states.