MAFF holds up hands for GM fiasco
9 February 2001
MAFF holds up hands for GM fiasco
By Isabel Davies
THE Government has admitted it should have handled better certain aspects of last years Advanta GM-contaminated rapeseed fiasco.
In reply to a report by the Agriculture Select Committee, ministers agreed that there were lessons to be learned from the incident.
Last May it was discovered that 4700ha (11,600 acres) of GM oilseed rape had been sown by up to 600 producers accidentally supplied with contaminated seed.
The Ministry of Agriculture came under criticism after it emerged that it waited a month before informing growers of the mix-up.
In its reply, the Government pointed out that this was the first time that an unauthorised GM impurity had been found in conventional seed in the UK.
As a novel situation, this raised difficult legal and technical issues needing careful consideration before appropriate action could be determined, it claimed.
But ministers said once it was clear which GM seed lines were involved, it had sought scientific advice from the Food Standards Agency and expert committees.
And the advice from the experts was that the situation did not pose any threat to either public or animal health, or the environment.
Suggestions that the UK had been slow to react, compared to Swedish authorities, were rejected as inappropriate.
Sweden did not realise it had a problem until a month later, by which time all early uncertainties had been cleared up, it claimed.
But it added: “Looking to the future, the government is taking steps to prevent a recurrence of this problem, but it will ensure appropriate action is taken should a similar incident occur.
“This will take account of the experience of the Advanta case.”
Ministers agreed that there was a need to test conventional seed for GM content, and said this should be the responsibility of seed companies.
Steps are being taken to ensure this was happening by auditing the operations of seed importers.
Advanta ended up paying 1.7 million compensation to farmers.