GM Crops (Hansard, 12 May 1999)

§ Ms Drown
To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions how much public money will be spent on trial sites for genetically modified crops in 1999. [83258]

§ Mr. Meacher
The Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions is not spending any public money on the provision of trial sites of genetically modified crops. The Department is however funding two research programmes that are conducted on such trial sites.
The farm-scale evaluations investigating the effect of GM crop management on farmland wildlife are being conducted on sites provided by the industry group SCIMAC (Supply Chain Initiative for Modified Agricultural Crops). The research, costing £233,000 in 1999, is being paid for by DETR with contributions from MAFF and the Scottish Office. Another project, costing £46,353 in 1999, is monitoring for gene flow from GM crops in field trials.

§ Mr. Stinchcombe
To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions how many separate trial sites there will be for genetically modified crops in the United Kingdom in 1999. [83284]

§ Mr. Meacher
I refer my hon. Friend to the answer I gave to the right hon. Member for Penrith and The Border (Mr. Maclean) on 27 April 1999,Official Report, column 88.

§ Mr. Stinchcombe
To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions when the scientific design of the field-scale evaluations of the ecological effects of genetically modified crops will be finalised; and if he will make a statement. [83260]
152W

§ Mr. Meacher
The successful contractors for the research have proposed a methodology for the ecological studies and this will be reviewed by the scientific steering committee. Fieldwork carried out this year will further help the contractors and steering committee to refine the methods to be used for subsequent years. It is envisaged that a provisional methodology will be made publicly available by the contractors and the steering committee soon after the steering group has met in early June. The final agreed methodology will be made available in the Autumn following the results of the first year's studies.