Beckett receives results of three-year long GM trials

The department for the environment has today received the results of the GM research into three herbicide-tolerant GM crops - maize, beet and spring oilseed rape.

The government-sponsored 'Farm Scale Evaluations' have been carried out over a three-year period to test the impact on farmland wildlife of the herbicide use associated with these crops.

The results will now be passed to the government's statutory advisory body - the Advisory Committee on Releases to the Environment (ACRE) – which will advise on their implications, possibly by December or early January.

In the light of this advice the government will decide the UK's position on whether these specific crops should be approved for commercial cultivation in the European Union (EU).

The government will also consider the findings of its GM public debate, the science review, and the costs and benefits study - as well as a forthcoming report on the coexistence of GM and non-GM crops.

Environment minister Margaret Beckett said that the government's overriding concern was to protect human health and the environment, and to ensure genuine consumer choice.

The Minister added: "We persisted with this research despite the activities of some anti-GM campaigners, including serious attempts to destroy the trial sites. So I am very pleased that the results are now available - we have said all the way through what have been fairly difficult years that they would provide valuable additional information to test the potential impact of growing and managing these crops on farmland wildlife. This is one of the environmental criteria that each application must meet."

The trial results will also be forwarded to other EU member states. A number of applications for the import or cultivation of GM crops are currently being considered by the EU.

Current EU legislation requires decisions to be taken on the basis of the evidence presented for each crop. No final decisions on applications for cultivation are likely at EU level until the New Year. Any decision is subject to collective agreement by member states.

(gmcg)