Conclusions and recommendations
1. There is huge confusion in both the Government's
and the European Union's position in relation to GM crops, especially
in relation to the thresholds of contamination of non-GM crops
and thus liability. The Government cannot allow the commercial
cultivation of GM crops in the United Kingdom until there is clarification
of these critical issues. Until this is done no credible co-existence
regime can be constructed. (Paragraph 18)
2. The current European Union interpretation
of 'zero' contamination is that it is set at the limit of technical
measurability: 0.1 percent. This is therefore the standard set
for organic crops. We believe that proposals to allow "adventitious
or technically unavoidable" contamination are likely to be
confusing, unworkable, unacceptable to consumers and potentially
destructive of the UK organic food industry. We recommend that
the planting regime for GM crops respect the legal requirement
that organic crops suffer zero contamination, and so does not
undermine the Government's encouragement of the organic sector
exemplified by the Organic Action Plan. (Paragraph 21)
3. Government guidelines on separation distances
should be regularly and independently audited and reviewed. The
Government should clarify how a regime of auditing and review
would be funded and conducted. Any audit regime must, in particular,
carry the confidence of the organic farming movement in the United
Kingdom. (Paragraph 28)
4. We are sceptical about the concept of 'voluntary'
GM-free zones. We recommend however that the Government consider
carefully the arguments in favour of mandatory GM-free zones,
particularly at the level of regions, and nations such as Wales.
We recommend that the Government set out its views on this point
in its response to this report. (Paragraph 34)
5. We believe that environmental damage and
liability is inextricably linked with the matters we have discussed
in this report. We therefore believe that it should properly be
subject to the Government's consultation process. The Government
cannot proceed to allow cultivation of GM crops until this matter
is resolved. (Paragraph 36)
6. The second major strand of the consultation
exercise should be the question of how liability should be determined
and how compensation should be funded. In particular the Government
must decide who should accept liability and fund compensation,
and the mechanisms by which compensation should be paid. At the
centre of this mechanism must be a guiding principle that economic
liability should extend to the level of proven economic losses
suffered by non-GM and organic farmers as a result of admixture
or contamination. It is a duty of Government to ensure a consistent
approach to environmental and economic liability. (Paragraph 40)
7. We recommend that the Government begin
the process of consultation soon, so that final details of a co-existence
and liability regime for GM crop cultivation can be settled. To
do so, the consultation exercise must focus on threshold levels
and on the details of economic and environmental liability. In
conducting the consultation, we urge the Government to keep in
mind the recommendations made in this report. We will examine
closely the way in which the consultation is conducted, specifically
in relation to the way issues of damage and liability are addressed.
(Paragraph 41)
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