§ Mr. YeoTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if the Government plan to make public the location of crop sites sown with Advanta rapeseeds contaminated with GM rapeseeds. [124156]
§ Mr. Nick Brown[holding answer 5 June 2000]The company is taking action to inform affected farmers. There are no safety implications which would necessitate identifying the location of affected crops.
§ Mr. YeoTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what obligations EU member states have to inform one another and the Commission of incidents in which conventional crop seed traded across international boundaries is found to be contaminated with genetically modified crop seed. [124150]
§ Mr. Nick Brown[holding answer 5 June 2000]I am not aware of any specific obligations that require member states to inform one another and the Commission of incidents involving the contamination of non-GM seeds with GM seeds. However, member states have exchanged information on a voluntary basis and have been making public statements about such incidents.
§ Mr. YeoTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what reports he has received concerning the date that the German authorities discovered that conventional Advanta rapeseed had been contaminated with genetically modified rapeseed. [124149]
§ Mr. Nick Brown[holding answer 5 June 2000]Advanta have told me that the German authorities informed them of their findings on 3 April.
§ Mr. YeoTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will publish the advice he has received from the(a) Advisory Committee on Releases to the Environment, (b) Advisory Committee on Novel Foods and Processes and (c) Food Standards Agency, about the risks to human health and the environment from the contamination of Advanta rape seed by GM crops. [124137]
358W
§ Mr. Nick Brown:[holding answer 5 June 2000]The advice of the Advisory Committee on Releases to the Environment, Advisory Committee on Novel Foods and Processes, and the Food Standards Agency has already been placed in the Libraries of the House and is available on the MAFF website.
§ Mr. YeoTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will publish in full the information made available by Advanta UK on the contamination of conventional rapeseed with genetically modified rapeseed. [124147]
§ Mr. Nick Brown[holding answer 5 June 2000]The main points of the information provided by Advanta were described in the Government's announcement on 17 May and in my statement of 19 May. The company also published information in a news release on 17 May.
§ Mr. YeoTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what reports he received, prior to being made aware of the contamination of conventional Advanta rapeseed with genetically modified seed, of similar incidents involving crop seeds imported into European Union member states, indicating when each such report was received. [124145]
§ Mr. Nick Brown[holding answer 5 June 2000]None.
§ Mr. YeoTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if the Government have designated an acceptable level of seed purity in the case of conventional crop seeds in relation to contamination with GM seeds. [124153]
§ Mr. Nick Brown[holding answer 5 June 2000]There are currently no levels set for the presence of GM seeds in non-GM seeds. The Government will be participating in discussions within the EC and the OECD on this matter.
§ Mr. YeoTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food when the Government were first (1) advised by Advanta Seeds UK that supplies of its conventional rapeseed contained genetically modified rapeseed; [124143]
(2) informed that supplies of conventional Advanta rapeseed had been or may have been contaminated with genetically modified rapeseed. [124144]
§ Mr. Nick Brown[holding answer 5 June 2000]DETR and MAFF officials were informed by Advanta Seeds UK on 17 April that supplies of conventional Advanta rapeseed might have been affected by the presence of genetically modified rapeseed.
§ Mr. YeoTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food for what reason the announcement about the contamination of conventional Advanta rapeseed was made on 17 May. [124146]
§ Mr. Nick Brown[holding answer 5 June 2000]The announcement on 17 May was made to inform Parliament and interested parties of the action which the Government were taking to address the issue of seed purity.
§ Mr. YeoTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food which statutory bodies prior to 17 April had a legal responsibility to ensure the seed purity of imported supplies. [124165]
359W
§ Mr. Nick Brown[holding answer 5 June 2000]The legal duty and responsibility to ensure the seed purity of imported supplies lies with the seeds authorities in the producer country and with the seed merchant marketing the seed in this country.
§ Mr. YeoTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will review the separation distances between GM and non-GM crops. [124164]
§ Mr. Nick Brown[holding answer 5 June 2000]Yes. I announced this in my speech to the House earlier today.
§ Mr. Campbell-SavoursTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, pursuant to the answer given on 17 May 2000,Official Report, column 173W, if the report on the study of seed sourcing and the possibility of GM seed in imported seed is now available. [125581]
§ Ms QuinThe report of the preliminary findings of the study has been placed in the Library of the House and will be made available on the Ministry website. The Government inspection programme being undertaken by the Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions will be focused on those imported seed species which are identified as most likely to be affected. Further studies are in hand.