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Lord Kennet asked Her Majesty's Government:
Lord Whitty: The release of information on genetically modified (GM) crops is governed by the Genetically Modified Organisms (Deliberate Release) Regulations 1992 (as amended) which give effect to Part VI of the Environmental Protection Act 1990. Under the regulations, information contained in applications to release GM crops must be placed on the public register. However, the legislation requires the Secretary of State to keep certain information confidential if required to do so by the company concerned. The department's criteria for deciding whether such requests are valid are set out in the guide to the regulations, a copy of which is in the Library. Generally, such information is limited to the protection of intellectual property rights for which a patent application is being made. The information is placed on the public register once the patent has been granted. Otherwise all the information in the application for consent to release or market a GMO is available on request. Even when the detailed description is kept confidential, general information about the description of the genetically modified organism in question and the purpose of the release must be placed on the public register.
Lord Shore of Stepney asked Her Majesty's Government:
Lord Whitty: The Chief Medical Officer of the Civil Aviation Authority believes that the recirculation of air does not pose a risk to the health of passengers.
Even when the air conditioning is set at its lowest level, the air in a modern aircraft cabin is changed every three minutes on average. The oxygen used by passengers is a small proportion, approximately 5 per cent. of the oxygen supplied at the minimum flow rate. The oxygen level in the cabin air therefore remains at around 20 per cent. for the duration of a flight, which is almost the same as normal atmospheric oxygen levels.
There is no evidence of links between cabin air quality, flow rates and the spread of disease. The filters used in most modern aircraft are similar to those used in critical wards of hospitals, operating theatres and burns units, and provide protection against the circulation of biological agents such as viruses. However, the spread of disease is facilitated when large numbers of people gather in close proximity. This has nothing to do with air quality but is a matter of personal contact.
While the re-circulation of air poses no risk, the air pressure in aircraft in flight, which is roughly equivalent to the atmospheric pressure at 8,000 feet above sea level, can affect people with respiratory diseases such as bronchitis, emphysema and bronchiolitis. Those affected are advised to consult their own doctor and the airline before travelling.
Lord Burton asked Her Majesty's Government:
Lord Whitty: From 1 July this will be a matter for the Scottish Parliament and Welsh Assembly. There is no proposal to make a single set of regulations concerning the whole of Great Britain.
Lord Burton asked Her Majesty's Government:
Lord Whitty: No. It is a consequence of devolution that the law on devolved matters may not be identical in Scotland or in Wales to what it is in England. In a number of respects existing law is, of course, already different in Scotland and Wales to that in England.
Earl Russell asked Her Majesty's Government:
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department of Social Security (Baroness Hollis of Heigham): The effect on hearing ability of any level of hearing loss varies among individuals depending on age, gender, type of hearing loss and whether hearing ability is measured by self-report or actual inability to perform listening tasks. The comment by my honourable friend the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Social Security (Mr. Bayley) was intended to give a non-specialist audience an idea of the impact of such a hearing loss in an adult.
A number of scales linking disablement to hearing level have been proposed and most publicly funded compensation schemes define a disablement threshold level below which disablement does not attract compensation. In the industrial injuries and war pensions schemes the compensation threshold is set at 50 decibels averaged over 1, 2 and 3 Kiloherz, which equates to 20 per cent. disablement in the scale of disablement used for both schemes. The details of the adoption of this threshold are set out in the Industrial Injuries Command Paper, Command 5461, Occupational Deafness (October 1973). A copy of that paper will be sent to the noble Earl.
The Countess of Mar asked Her Majesty's Government:
The Parliamentary Secretary, Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (Lord Donoughue): All official veterinary surgeons can differentiate between a bovine and a porcine carcass. There is no legal requirement to remove the spinal cord from a porcine carcass.
The Countess of Mar asked Her Majesty's Government:
Lord Donoughue: The Ministry's financial position is not relevant to this question since, as the Government have made clear, they believe that the costs of enforcing the controls on specified risk material should in principle be recovered from industry. However, the Government have also announced that they will examine the way the inspections are carried out to ensure that, when charges are set, the costs are as low as possible, consistent with maintaining public safety and honouring our obligations under EU law. There is no reason why that examination should not include the idea of self-supervision.
Lord Soulsby of Swaffham Prior asked Her Majesty's Government:
Lord Donoughue: It is always the Government's intention that their proposals should comply with European Community law.
Lord Soulsby of Swaffham Prior asked Her Majesty's Government:
Lord Donoughue: Drafting of a statutory instrument providing for the pet travel scheme pilot arrangements is still under way. MAFF officials have not shown copies of a draft to carriers. I am happy to put copies of the draft in the Library of the House when work has further advanced.
Lord Shore of Stepney asked Her Majesty's Government:
Lord Donoughue: As my noble friend correctly identified in the debate on 27 May 1999 on Genetic Modification in Agriculture: ECC Report (Official Report, col. 1069) Article 30 (previously Article 36) of the treaty enables member states to restrict imports on
the grounds of protecting the health of humans, animals or plants if there are no other harmonising measures in place. In relation to GM crops and foods, both the council directive on the deliberate release into the environment of genetically modified organisms (90/220/EEC) and EC Regulation 258/97 concerning novel foods and novel food ingredients have regard to the treaty establishing the European Community and in particular Article 95 (previously Article 100a) thereof.
Community legislation governing the marketing of genetically modified foods, plants and seeds has the objective of safeguarding human health and the environment. Products have to be approved at Community level before they can be placed on the Community market. Given the treaty base and the objectives of the Community legislation, there are no grounds for restricting such imports unless new information calls into question the original approval, in which case a member state may temporarily restrict imports while the new information is assessed.
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