Written question asked by Simon Thomas (Plaid Cymru) on Monday, 8 March 2004, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Wednesday, 17 March 2004. It was answered by Elliot Morley (Labour) on Wednesday, 17 March 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, whether she has communicated the shortcomings of the farm-scale evaluation maize trials to the lead competent authority in France, as required by Directive 2001/18/EC; and whether she has requested a variation in the conditions attached to the Part C consent for Chardon LL fodder maize.

Answer: Mr. Simon Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs whether she has communicated the shortcomings of the farm-scale evaluation maize trials to the lead competent authority in France, as required by Directive 2001/18/EC; and whether she has requested a variation in the conditions attached to the Part C consent for Chardon LL fodder maize. [160579] Mr. Morley: I am not aware of any shortcomings of the farm-scale evaluation (FSE) maize trials, the results have been endorsed by both the Scientific Steering Committee overseeing the evaluations and the Advisory Committee on Releases to the Environment (ACRE). Officials sent the results of the Farm Scale Evaluations, together with the non-specialist and scientific summaries, to the European Commission and the Competent Authorities of the member states for their information on 20 and 21 October 2003. ACRE published its advice on the FSE results on 13 January 2004, and this advice was also sent to the Commission and the Competent Authorities on that date. On 9 March 2004 officials wrote to the French Competent Authority, which issued the relevant consent on behalf of all EU member states, seeking amendments to the consent for Bayer T25 GM maize (Chardon LL) to limit herbicide use with the crop in line with ACRE'S advice.

Secondary information