Wednesday 31 March 1999
From: nsuser@foe.co.uk in foe.press
MPs from all three major parties are to join Friends of the Earth
in suing the Government over an attempt to speed up the commercial
growing of genetically modified (GM) food.
The MPs involved in the case are: Norman Baker (Lib Dem, Lewes),
John Randall (Con, Uxbridge) and Alan Simpson (Lab, Nottingham
South). The case is crucial to the commercial future of GM crops
in Britain, and will see an important clash over the powers of the
legislature and the executive. Legal papers to begin the case
will be presented to the HIgh Court on Wednesday.
The "unprecedented" legal move by the MPs and FOE concerns a key
decision last month by the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and
Food (MAFF). MAFF has extended a non-statutory seed approval
scheme to cover GM crops, short-circuiting the slower statutory
seed approval system. This cuts about two years off the time
needed for commercial growing of GM crops for human consumption to
begin.
Before seeds can be marketed, their variety must have been entered
on the National List and the seeds themselves must be certified.
(For GM seeds, a GMO marketing consent must also be obtained.) To
obtain National Listing , a plant variety must be shown to be
distinct, stable, uniform and to have value for cultivation and
use. To be certified , a seed lot must meet various tests
including purity and freedom from disease.
The statutory certification process takes place after National
Listing and typically takes about two to three years. But since
1975, MAFF has allowed a non-statutory certification process to
take place before National Listing. This allows necessary tests
to be carried out
in advance and means that statutory certification can usually be
completed immediately after National Listing [1]. In February
1999, MAFF decided to extend this non-statutory scheme to cover GM
crops.
But Friends of the Earth has been advised by Counsel that the
whole non-statutory scheme is unlawful. At a meeting last week
between FOE and MAFF officials, the Government side was unable to
give a legal defence of its scheme. FOE and the MPs have
therefore sought a judicial review. FOE and the MPs argue that
MAFF has used the Royal Prerogative to create a new certification
scheme, but that this decision has no legal force and could only
properly be made through Parliament.
Commenting on the case, FOE Legal Adviser Peter Roderick said:
For MPs of every major Party to be involved in a judicial review
of a key Government decision is unprecedented and heartening. The
Government have behaved outrageously by helping the biotech
industry speed up GM food-growing, behind Parliament's back and
with no public support. MAFF has created a scheme with no legal
basis to shave two years off the time it will take to grow GM food
in Britain. Meanwhile the Government's spin-doctors have been
claiming that they are listening to public opinion, and slowing
the whole process down. The Government hoped to use the obscurity
of seed law to sneak this decision past the public without anyone
noticing. But this court case - and the vital decision of the MPs
to back it - shows that they have been caught in the actM-^T.
ENDS
NOTES
[1] Seeds are certified for marketing on a statutory
'generational ladder', needing certification at each rung of the
ladder. For example, the generational ladder for seeds of oilseed
rape is: Breeder's Seed (which produces) Pre-Basic Seed (which
produces) Basic Seed (which produces) Certified Seed. Only
Certified Seed is intended for human and animal consumption, and
it is only when this stage is reached that sufficient quantities
of seed for full commercialisation will have been built up.
Progressing up the generational ladder takes perhaps two to three
years. But the non-statutory scheme allows M-^SprovisionalM-^T
certification for every stage up to the production of Certified
Seed, before National Listing is completed. Statutory
certification as Certified Seed can therefore be granted
immediately after Listing and commercial growing can begin at
once.
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