§ Mr. BarkerTo ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what separation distances she recommends should be imposed between GM and non-GM or organic crops of(a) sugar or fodder beet, (b) maize and (c) oilseed rape, to avoid contamination of the non-GM or organic crop above 0.01 per cent. [46621]
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§ Mr. MeacherThere are insufficient data to determine separation distances between crops that would achieve a cross-pollination threshold of 0.01 per cent. Furthermore, 0.01 per cent. is below the level at which an incidental GM presence can reliably be quantified with current analytical methods.
In 2000 the National Institute of Agricultural Botany (NIAB) reported on the separation distances required to ensure that cross-pollination is below specified limits. These distances for oilseed rape and maize are shown in Table 1. NIAB did not recommend a distance for beet crops because beet is biennial and generally does not flower in the year of harvest, and any "bolters" can and should be removed before flowering. In addition, incoming pollen would not affect the vegetative parts of the plant (beet root and foliage). In 2001 the Advisory Committee on Releases to the Environment augmented the NIAB advice in respect of maize (Table 2). The NIAB study took account of work undertaken for the Soil Association by the National Pollen Research Unit (NPRU) which recommended separation distances to achieve an incidental GM presence which was not quantified but described as "very low risk". These distances are shown in Table 3. The NIAB study also reviewed work from a variety of researchers, such as Jones arid Brooks—"Effectiveness of distance and border rows in preventing outcrossing in corn"; Oklahoma Agricultural Experimental Station, Technical Bulletin No. T-38, 1950.
Table 1: Summary of separation distances (m) required to maintain cross-pollination of the whole fields at below specified levels for fields of 2ha or more metres Threshold levels of cross-pollination Crop 1% 0.5% 0.1% Oilseed rape (B. napus and rapa) Conventional varieties and restored hybrids 1.5 10 100 Varietal associations and partially restored hybrids 100 1— 1— Maize/sweetcorn For grain 200 300 1— For silage 130 200 420 1 Insufficient information to produce a recommendation (see report for more detail). Source:
NIAB report "Review of the use of separation distances between genetically modified and other crops", August 2000.
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Table 2: Summary of ACRE's advice on cross-pollination in relation to Farm Scale Evaluations of Genetically Modified Maize, 1 May 2001 metres Separation distances from GM maize1 Adventitious GM presence in the grain or silage (upper limit) Neighbouring crop (organic and non-organic) 1% 0.5% 0.1% Maize grown for grain (sweetcorn, seed crops) 130 200 420 Maize grown for silage (forage maize) 80 130 290 1 The table refers to varieties of GM maize, such as that used in the farm scale evaluations, which are heterozygous for the GM trait. For any homozygous varieties the amount of GM presence will be approximately double the above figures at the same separation distances.
NPRU's recommended "very low risk distances", January 2000 metres Crop Very low risk distance Maize 3,000 Sugar beet 1,000 Oil seed rape 6,000 1 3,000 metres were recommended between GM beet and organic seed production.