§ Lord Beaumont of Whitleyasked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether any monitoring has taken place on the effects of growing in the United Kingdom the genetically modified oilseed hybrid seeds for which Plant Genetics Systems NV were granted in 1996 a marketing consent for seed production only; if so, who carried out the monitoring and when the results will be published. [HL1345]
§ The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions (Lord Whitty)Releases of the genetically modified oilseed rape hybrid system have been monitored since spring 1995, whilst the crops were being grown under an experimental research consent, and after a consent was granted to Plant Genetics Systems NV in February 1996 to allow the crops to be grown for the purposes of seed production only. It should be noted that this material is not allowed to be sold or grown commercially for any other purpose. A contract was let to the National Institute of Agriculture Botany (NIAB) through competitive tender in 1994 to carry out monitoring of releases until autumn 1997. The purpose of the monitoring was to confirm the assessment of the risk to the environment made in the application for consent, which concluded that the impact of the genetically modified oilseed rape will be equivalent to that of conventional oilseed rape cultivars. A detailed report of the outcome of the first contract is currently being prepared for publication and it is anticipated that it will be available in July this year.
NIAB reports that the results of the first monitoring contract indicate that there is no enhancement of the ability of the genetically modified oilseed rape to establish volunteer, weed or feral populations and no abnormal behaviour was observed. No evidence of gene flow or gene introgression into other crucifer species was detected in the many hundreds of plants tested. The observed behaviour of the genetically modified oilseed rape equated with that of conventional oilseed rape, and the risk assessment carried out by Plant Genetics Systems in their application to place this product on the market for seed production was verified.
A subsequent contract was awarded to NIAB in 1998 to continue monitoring the sites where this genetically modified oilseed rape was planted and to monitor further sites where it may be grown. This will continue until autumn 2000. A further report on the outcome of this monitoring will be prepared on completion of his work.
§ Lord Hardy of Wathasked Her Majesty's Government:
What steps have been taken to prevent the unauthorised spreading of genetically modified oilseed rape; and on what date approval was given for the cultivation of genetically modified oilseed rape. [HL1386]
§ Lord WhittyNo GM rape has been approved for general cultivation in the UK. The company Plant 95WA Genetic Systems NV was granted a Europe-wide approval in February 1996 for the cultivation of a variety of genetically-modified oil seed rape for seed production only, to be used only by the company and not for commercial application.