HC Deb 08 June 1999 vol 332 c237W
Joan Ruddock

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, pursuant to her answer of 15 February 1999,Official Report, column 424, on genetically modified crops, if she will make a statement on the progress of the research on the potential impact on farmers in developing countries of the increased use of genetically modified crops. [85489]

Clare Short

Later this year we will publish a progress report on our natural resources knowledge activities, including details of those studies which address genetic modification issues of concern and interest to developing countries. The three-year research project on the potential risks of introducing transgenic plants into traditional cropping systems, referred to in my earlier answer, began in April 1999. Results are not yet available. A short, predictive study of the potential effects on the livelihoods of poor people in developing countries of so-called "terminator" gene technologies is to be commissioned shortly for completion by the end of this year.

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