GMOs (Conventional Crops)

Part of the debate – in the House of Commons at 1:17 pm on 18 May 2000.

Alert me about debates like this

Photo of David Heath David Heath Shadow Spokesperson (Environment, Food and Rural Affairs) 1:17, 18 May 2000

I welcome the statement and the additional information that will be made available. I accept the Minister's assurances that no harm will be caused to the environment, but considerable harm has been done to the reputation of the Ministry for openness, especially because of the partial nature of the information available yesterday. There was a statement from the Home Office yesterday, so the Minister could have made a statement. Will he accept that the matter has destroyed the credibility of the import controls, such as they are; has made a nonsense of the so-called safe separation distances; and has caused potential economic damage to farmers who have planted non-GM seed in good faith?

Will the Minister confirm that on 18 June 1999, in The Times, Dr. Phil Dale of the John Innes centre in Norwich drew attention to the specific problem of a 1 per cent. contamination of seed from north America? Will the Minister account for the dilatory and ineffective way in which the Ministry has treated that information since? Will he accept that it is hard to discern a difference between the way in which Government Departments now work and the way in which they worked when the Conservatives were in charge during the BSE crisis? Will the Minister give an assurance that he will re-examine the safety zones; ensure that the import checks are effective and subject to external audit; and consider compensation for the farmers who have been affected through no fault of their own and may be locked into GM-free contracts that they now cannot complete?