§ Lord Joplingasked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether they are confident that genetic modification of fish, supported by public funds, will not lead to a situation in which modified fish escape into the oceanic or freshwater environment and breed with unmodified species, creating an adverse balance in the natural environment. [HL1669]
§ Baroness HaymanAny work with GM fish in a confinement rather than strict containment facility would have to be approved under the legislation dealing with the deliberate release of genetically modified organisms. The Government would not grant approval if there were thought to be an unacceptable risk to human health or the environment. The potential for fish to escape from pens into open waters and interbreed with wild stocks would be considered as part of the risk assessment.
§ Lord Joplingasked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether they will set out details of all the public funds being spent on research or development of genetically modified fish both within the United Kingdom and abroad. [HL1670]
§ Baroness HaymanThe Ministry funded a one-year strategic project which ended in 1999 on the theoretical feasibility of using genetic modification to develop fish resistant to viral disease. The work was undertaken on Tilapia, a tropical fish, but did not involve the creation of a transgenic organism. The cost was £48,000. MAFF has no plans to commission any further research in this area.
The Department of the Environment has funded a desk study and literature review to consider the environmental implications and risk assessment of genetically modified fish. This work was published as a DETR research report in November 1994. When we have the details we will write to the noble Lord to confirm the cost of this project.
The Department for International Development has provided funding totalling £1.118 million for four projects on the development of transgenic Tilapia starting in 1992. Three of the projects have been completed and one is still in progress. All the work is strategic in nature and geared towards improving the livelihoods of poor people. None of the work has involved the release of GM fish in developing countries.
The then Agriculture and Food Research Council funded grants totalling £329,800 for three projects on transgenic fish between 1991 and 1995. These were on carp, salmon, trout and goldfish. One project was to determine how to undertake transgenesis in fish, one to manipulate the onset of sexual maturity and the third to change the rate of growth of the fish.
The Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council and the Medical Research Council are both supporting work that uses GM fish as a model to explore genetic function. However, this is 230WA fundamental research which is not aimed at the development of improved fish varieties.