§ Mr. YeoTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions if he will advise the removal of flower heads from the winter and spring trials as a precautionary measure in line with the advice from the Under-Secretary of State, the hon. Member for Stretford and Urmston (Ms Hughes), in a Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions press release of 23 August 2000. [151539]
§ Mr. Meacher[holding answer 1 March 2001]: The News Release of 23 August 2000 set out the arrangements for the farm-scale evaluations of autumn oilseed rape. It recognised that the review of separation distances for GM crops published by MAFF earlier that month had highlighted that increased separation distances might be required for certain types of oilseed rape. As an interim measure the News Release announced 100 m separation distances for varietal association oilseed rape pending full consideration of the NIAB report. If as a result the separation distances turned out to be greater than 100 m, consideration would be given to other risk reduction measures such as removal of flower heads from the rape plants to prevent pollen dispersal.
57WMAFF announced the outcome of their review and the distances to be applied to future rounds of the farm-scale evaluations on 6 February 2001, Official Report, column 492W. As a result the Government have asked the agriculture and farming industry body SCIMAC to incorporate two changes into their revised code of practice on GM crops. The first is to continue to apply the 100 m separation distance used at the autumn sown sites where varietal association oilseed rape was nearby, as mentioned in the 23 August press release. The second is an increased distance of 80 m for maize crops. This is intended, to ensure that contamination of neighbouring crops does not exceed 1 per cent.
The MAFF announcement means that it is not necessary to remove the flower heads from the GM oilseed rape fields presently growing or planned for this spring where they are near conventional crops of varietal association oilseed rape. There are no maize or beet sites presently being grown. The new separation distance for maize crops will be implemented at all of the spring 2001 sites, when they are sown later in the year.