Written question asked by Simon Thomas (Plaid Cymru) on Tuesday, 8 June 2004, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Thursday, 17 June 2004. It was answered by Elliot Morley (Labour) on Thursday, 17 June 2004 on behalf of the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.

Dept for Environment Food and Rural Affairs

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what statistically valid and peer-reviewed studies her Department has (a) commissioned and (b) evaluated on the safety of feeding Chardon LL fodder maize to ruminants.

Answer: Mr. Simon Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what statistically valid and peer-reviewed studies her Department has (a) commissioned and (b) evaluated on the safety of feeding Chardon LL fodder maize to ruminants. [178119] Mr. Morley: No studies on the safety of feeding Chardon LL, a variety of maize containing the GM event known as T25, to ruminants have been commissioned by Defra, nor has the Department evaluated any such studies. T25 maize was assessed and approved for use as any other maize by member states under Part C of directive 90/220 in 1998. Both the Advisory Committee on Releases to the Environment and the Advisory Committee on Animal Feeding stuffs were satisfied, on the basis of the data submitted, that the T25 maize grain and its products pose no more risk as animal feed than non-GM maize varieties. I understand that Bayer CropScience commissioned a study which examined the effect of feeding Chardon LL forage maize to dairy cattle and that the results are being considered for publication in a peer-reviewed journal. The results will be passed to ACRE and ACAF in due course.

Secondary information

Type: Written question
Reference: 178119; 422 c1101W
Session: 2003-04
Subjects: Cattle Animal feed Genetically modified organisms Livestock Safety Research Maize
Link: View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk