House of Commons - European Scrutiny - Seventh Report

Select Committee on European Scrutiny Seventh Report

6 Cultivation and processing of genetically modified potato

(28286)

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Draft Council Decision regarding the placing on the market, in accordance with Directive 2001/18/EC, of a potato product (solanum tuberosum L. line EH92-527-1) genetically modified for enhanced content of amylopectin component of starch

Legal base Article 18(1) of Directive 2001/18/EC

Department Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

Basis of consideration EM of 22 January 2007

Previous Committee Report None

To be discussed in Council February 2007

Committee's assessment Politically important

Committee's decision Cleared

6.1 Until relatively recently, the deliberate release into the environment of genetically modified organisms was subject within the Community to the provisions of Directive 90/220/EEC.[14] That Directive has now been replaced by Directive 2001/18/EC,[15] and this document — which would permit the cultivation and processing into industrial starch of a genetically modified potato[16] — follows an application submitted to the relevant Swedish authority in February 2003.

The current proposal

6.2 Although we have yet to receive an official text, we have been told that the original application also included the use of this genetically modified potato in animal feed as well as for processing into industrial starch, and that the initial Swedish assessment had concluded that there were no reasons why consent should be withheld. However, as some other Member States had raised (and maintained) objections, the Commission consulted the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA). The Authority issued an opinion on 7 December 2005, concluding that there was no evidence to indicate that the use of this product for starch production would be likely to cause adverse effects on human and animal health or the environment.

6.3 On 9 December 2005, the applicant withdrew animal feed from the requested authorisation, and, after further discussion, the amended proposal was put by the Commission to the Regulatory Committee set up under Directive 2001/18/EC on 4 December 2006. However, it failed to secure the necessary qualified majority, and, as a result, it has now been referred to the Council, which must take a decision within three months. If it fails to do so, the proposal will be referred back to the Commission for a decision in line with the scientific advice from the EFSA.

6.4 In accordance with the normal practice with applications of this sort, the proposal was referred to the UK's statutory Advisory Committee on Releases to the Environment (ACRE), which advised in May 2004 that cultivation and use of this line posed no additional risk to human health and the environment compared with its parent cultivar. However, in order to complete its assessment, the Committee requested further information on the implications for animal feed safety. Since this latter information had yet to be provided, the UK opinion submitted to the Commission on 27 January 2005 objected to the proposed consent until the information in question had been supplied. However, after the applicant had withdrawn animal feed from the scope of the request, ACRE concluded that that opinion issued by the EFSA was in line with its own view, and the UK consequently voted in favour of the proposal in the Regulatory Committee.

The Government's view

6.5 In his Explanatory Memorandum of 22 January 2007, the Minister for Climate Change and Environment at the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Mr Ian Pearson) says that, although approval of the draft Decision would allow the marketing of the particular type of potato in question in all Member States, it will not be used in the UK, as there is no potato starch processing in this country, and the UK does not have a quota for the production and use of starch potatoes.

6.6 This is the latest in a series of proposed authorisations of a genetically modified product to come before us following a failure to secure the necessary qualified majority in the Regulatory Committee established under Directive 2001/18/EC, notwithstanding the European Food Safety Authority's advice that use of the product in question for the purpose specified — in this case, for processing into industrial starch — is unlikely to cause any adverse effects on human and animal health or the environment. Also, as in previous such cases, the UK supported the proposed authorisation, in the light of the favourable advice provided by the Advisory Committee on Releases to the Environment.

6.7 There is however one potentially significant difference between the current proposal, and those we have considered previously, in that it relates, not just to the marketing of the product, but to its cultivation within the Community. However, we note that there is no potato starch processing industry in this country, and that the UK does not have a quota for the production and use of starch potatoes. Consequently, although it would in theory be possible for this crop to be grown in the UK, we have been advised that the likelihood of this happening in practice is remote. On that basis, we are content to clear the proposal on the basis of this Report to the House.

14 OJ No. L.117, 8.5.90, p.15. Back

15 OJ No. L.106, 17.4.01, p.1. Back

16 The modification would make it easier to process the resultant starch into (for example) paper. Back

© Parliamentary copyright 2007
Prepared 5 February 2007