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Dept for Environment Food and Rural Affairs

Answer

Mr. Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if she will make a statement on recent decisions of the European Commission relating to plans for commercial growing of 17 different varieties of GM maize, as submitted by Monsanto. [188308] Mr. Morley: The European Commission has approved the addition of 17 varieties of GM maize to the EU Common Catalogue of seed varieties. The Common Catalogue is an amalgam of individual member states national seed lists and it is a routine procedure for varieties on individual national seed lists to be added to the Catalogue. These 17 varieties are already on either the national seed lists of France or Spain. The 17 maize varieties all contain the same GM transformation event which confers resistance to the European corn borer. This GM event was given EU wide approval for commercial cultivation in 1998, and maize varieties containing this GM event have been grown in Spain since then. While adding these varieties to the EU common catalogue means they could theoretically be grown in the UK it is not expected that any farmer in the UK will attempt to grow them. This is because these varieties are very late maturing and in UK conditions they would not produce a crop with anything like the feed value that livestock farmers require from maize. Nor would they ripen to produce a grain crop. In addition the pest to which the maize varieties are designed to be resistant is not a problem in the UK. We understand that Monsanto do not intend to offer these seed varieties for sale in the UK.

Secondary information

Type

Written question

Reference

424 c1670W;424 c1668W; 188308

Session

2003-04

Subjects

Crops Genetically modified organisms EU action Seeds Maize

Link

View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk