GM Crop Trials

What are GM Crop Trials?

Genetically modified crops are plants whose genes are altered in the laboratory to make them perform in a very specific way, such as not being harmed by certain herbicides.

In October 1998, the Government and representatives of the agricultural biotechnology industry agreed to conduct a series of closely-monitored Farm Scale Evaluations of the impact on biodiversity of herbicide-resistant genetically modified crops.

Although the existing EU regulatory regime had largely satisfied UK scientific authorities about the safety of the crops themselves, there remained extensive concerns about the impact of crop management practices on a large scale. In 1998, three types of GM crop were on the brink of receiving EU approval, and, along with lingering scientific concerns, public opinion remained hostile to GM crop cultivation.

EU law forbade a compulsory moratorium on GM crop planting, so the Government negotiated an agreement with the industry umbrella group SCIMAC (Supply Chain Initiative on Modified Agricultural Crops) to hold back from commercial cultivation until the Field Scale Evaluataions were complete. The majority of the Field Scale Evaluations were completed by the end of 2003.


Background

Before the introduction of the Field Scale Evaluation programme, there were four tests that any plant needed to pass before it could be cultivated.

1. The Advisory Committee on Releases to the Environment (ACRE) must be satisfied by the plant's impact on human health, animal health and the environment.
2. The Advisory Committee on Novel Foods and Processes (ACNFP) and the Advisory Committee on Animal Feedingstuffs (ACAF) must assess the plant for human and animal feedstuff safety.
3. Herbicide-resistant plants require the companion herbicide to be approved by the Pesticides Safety Directorate (PSD).
4. GM plants are subject to the same seeds regulations as conventional plants, and require approval for the distinctness, uniformity and stability (DUS) of each new variety, as well as value for cultivation and use (VCU).

These tests remain in place today. In 1998, when the Field Scale Evaluation programme was introduced, maize, oilseed rape (winter and spring varieties) and beet (fodder and sugar varieties), were close to meeting all of these tests.

In the first year, 1999, a small number of fields of each crop were sown to test the evaluation protocols. The main project started in spring 2000 and was due to end in autumn 2002 for the spring crops and summer 2003 for the autumn sown rape.

The GM crops evaluated in the Field Scale Evaluations were modified to be resistant to broad-spectrum herbicides such as glyphosate and glufosinate ammonium. These chemicals normally kill crops as well as weed, so resistant crops would permit farmers to ignore weeds growing among their crops early in the season, as they can use an effective herbicide later in the year.

Around 60 fields were sown with each type of crop over the four year Field Scale Evaluation programme.

The results of all the Field Scale Evaluations, except for those involving winter oilseed rape, were published in October 2003. On publication, the results were passed to ACRE for consideration.

In March 2004, Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Secretary Margaret Beckett announced that the Government will permit the commercial cultivation of the GM maize tested in the FSE trials, on certain conditions relating to further testing after 2006. The Government stated that it would oppose the approval of the GM beet and oilseed rape tested in the FSEs in the EU. However, later that month, the Commons' Environmental Audit Committee accused the Government of ignoring the findings of the FSEs in reaching its decisions.


Controversies

The Field Scale Evaluations of GM crops have been one of the most controversial ecological research programmes ever undertaken, principally because the Government has indicated that their outcomes will have a major influence on whether GM crops are cultivated in the UK.

The public are seen as broadly opposed to the cultivation of GM crops, as more than half of Britons who took part in a nationwide debate said they should never be introduced under any circumstances. The Field Scale Evaluations were perceived by some, not as a scientific means of determining finally whether GM crops are safe, but as a way of the Government delaying a decision.

The first wave of Field Scale Evaluations saw farms attacked by anti-GM protestors - most notably in July 1999, when 30 Greenpeace activists, led by Lord Peter Melchett, destroyed crops at a farm in Lyng, Norfolk. This led to higher levels of security around the evaluation sites.

Notwithstanding public concern about GM crops, heightened by media warnings about 'Frankenstein foods', opponents of GM crops say there remain numerous questions about the environmental impact of the crops not explicitly addressed by the Field Scale Evaluations, particularly cross-pollination and separation distances between GM and conventional stands and the longer term effects of GM releases.


Statistics

Biodiversity indicators assessed in the FSEs include: the soil seed bank; arable plant diversity, biomass and estimated seed return; field margin and boundary vegetation; the impact on gastropods, arthropods (both plant- and ground-dwelling), bees, butterflies, birds and small mammals.

A 1999 MORI poll stated that 79% of the public opposed the Field Scale Evaluations.

Statistic 1: (Source: DETR and Scottish Executive Background Paper, 'The Science of the Farm-Scale Evaluations', 2001); Statistic 2: (Source: Greenpeace press release, July 1999)


Quotes

"Growing conventional beet and spring rape was better for many groups of wildlife than growing GM herbicide-tolerant (GMHT) beet and spring rape. Some insect groups, such as bees (in beet crops) and butterflies (in beet and spring rape), were recorded more frequently in and around the conventional crops because there were more weeds to provide food and cover. In contrast, growing GMHT maize was better for many groups of wildlife than conventional maize. There were more weeds in and around the GMHT maize crops, more butterflies and bees around at certain times of year, and more weed seeds."

Scientific Steering Committee, October 16 2003

"'I shall reflect carefully on these results and the outcome of the public debate. I have said consistently that the government is neither pro- nor anti-GM crops - our overriding concern is to protect human health and the environment, and to ensure genuine consumer choice."

Margaret Beckett, Environment Food and Rural Affairs Secretary, October 16 2003

"We want arguments based on evidence and what we are getting is arguments based on opinion. We are saying to Tony Blair loud and clear that the science community is disaffected."

Professor Derek Burke, ACNFP chair 1997-1998, speaking on BBC Radio Four's 'Today' programme, October 2003