§ Ms DrownTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (1) what assessment he has made of the safety of the antibiotic-resistant gene in Novartis's genetically modified maize;[80794]
(2) what assessment the Advisory Committee on Novel Foods and Processes made of the safety of the antibiotic-resistant gene in Novartis's genetically modified food. [80793]
§ Mr. RookerThe conclusions of the Advisory Committee on Novel Food and Processes (ACNFP) concerning this GM maize are recorded in the Committee's 1996 annual report which is available in the House of Commons Library. The ACNFP was satisfied that processed food ingredients derived from the maize were as safe as their conventional counterparts but expressed reservations about the use of the unprocessed maize as an animal feeding stuff because of what it considered to be a small, but finite, chance that this could lead to a transfer of antibiotic resistance.
Subsequent to the ACNFP's consideration of this matter, this maize was assessed by three EC Scientific Committees, the Scientific Committee for Foods, the Scientific Committee for Plants and the Scientific Committee on Animal Nutrition, who took into account the ACNFP's views. Whilst agreeing with the ACNFP's assessment that there was a finite risk of the transfer of antibiotic resistance to cattle fed on the raw maize, all three EC Committees felt that this was too small to warrant recommending a ban on its use for animal feed. EC approval was therefore granted. The Department has however commissioned some research work at the University of Leeds to look further into the issue of the potential for the transference of antibiotic resistance from GM crops. Should any scientific evidence emerge 516W have declared outside interests with (a) DiaDexus, (b) Cerebrus Ltd, (c) Cerebrus PLC, (d) Stanford University, (e) Human Genome Services Inc, (f) Glaxo Wellcome, (g) the Wellcome Institute, (h) Monsanto, (i) AgrEvo and (j) SmithKline Beecham.[80129]
§ Mr. MorleyThe following members of advisory committees have declared relevant outside interests as listed below: from this which in the opinion of the ACNFP shows the risk to be greater than originally thought, the Government will consider taking action under the safeguard clause in the EC Deliberate Release Directive (90/220) to restrict the use of the raw maize in animal feed and press for an urgent reappraisal of the situation by the EC Scientific Committees and the Council.