§ Mr. David HeathTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions if he will list the pesticides applied on the farm scale trial of genetically modified oilseed rape and conventional oilseed rape at Model Farm, near Watlington, in 1999, giving in each case(a) the name of the product used, (b) the rate of application and (c) the date or dates applied. [101757]
§ Mr. Meacher[holding answer 9 December 1999]: Information on all the pesticides (including herbicides) used on both the genetically modified and the conventional crops being grown under the farm scale evaluation programme is recorded in detail by the research contractors as part of their monitoring of field sites. The full information will be passed to the independent scientific steering committee overseeing the farm scale evaluations, and will be published in their report of the evaluations, but is not currently available. Pesticide information will help establish the context of any observed differences in wildlife between the GM and conventional crops, and will be published alongside the results.