Seòmar agus comataidhean

There are three designatedraised bog candidate Special Areas of Conservation in Dumfries and Galloway (atCarsegowan Moss, Raeburn Flow and Solway Mosses North) with all three supportingboth active bog and degraded bog still capable of natural regeneration.

The Scottish Executive has responsibility for ensuring the requirements of Article 11 areadhered to in Scotland.

As noted in myministerial statement on 10 March 2004, Chardon LL maizereceived EU-wide approval Part C approval in 1998.  We are currently seeking anamendment to this consent.

The results of the farmscale evaluations were peer reviewed and published in the PhilosophicalTransactions of The Royal Society: Biological Sciences. They wereimmediately forwarded to the Advisory Committee on Releases to the Environment(ACRE) for advice on the implications for the possible commercialisation ofthese specific GM crops.

In line with the PartnershipAgreement, environmental groups and other interested parties were invited tosubmit their comments on the results to ACRE.  In addition ACRE accepted the Executive’s invitation to hold an openmeeting in Edinburgh, on 4 December 2003, to afford Scottishstakeholders the opportunity to present oral evidence and discuss the results.

All oral and written evidence,including the outcomes of the Edinburgh meeting, were considered by ACRE beforethey gave their advice to government.

The Advisory Committee onReleases to the Environment (ACRE) has recently considered two reports whichclaimed that independent analysis had identified discrepancies in the molecularcharacterisation of approved GM products.

ACRE consider that the additional information was due torecent improvements in the methods for the analysis of transformation events anddid not give rise to an additional risk. However, ACRE haverequested further information to allow them to complete their own analysis and,if necessary, will review relevant risk assessments in light of this information.

ACRE are satisfied that the original consent remainslegal since there is no evidence that the GM insert in Chardon LL maize haschanged.

We will consult allconcerned on the most appropriate co-existence arrangements for Scotland todeliver choice for both consumers and farmers and on possible compensationarrangements for farmers who suffer economic loss. The present presumption isthat any compensation scheme would need to be funded by the GM crops industry,rather than by the Executive or producers of non-GM crops.

The Scottish NaturalHeritage report An inventory of lowland raised bogs in Great Britain (Lindsay, R.A. and Immirzi, P., 1996) identifies 807 raised bog sitesin Scotland. Of these, 281 are identified as supporting areas ofactive bog, and 344 supporting areas of degraded bog capable of regeneration. Itis important to note that the figures for degraded bog capable of regenerationrefer to sites supporting some area of vegetation capable of restoration to bogvegetation. This does not necessarily imply that each site as a whole iscapable of regeneration.

The Scottish Executive is not aware of any planned studies comparing the biodiversity impactof GM crops with organic crops.

A cattle feeding study wascarried out by researchers at Reading University to investigate the effect of T25 (Chardon LL) maizeon ruminants. The study has been completed and the researchers intend to submittheir study to a peer-reviewed journal for publication. The Advisory Committeeon Releases to the Environment (ACRE) will be asked to fully assess the datawhen the peer review process is complete.

The researchers haveconfirmed that the study does not reveal any adverse effects on the health ofruminants fed T25 maize.

It is estimated that 68% of the active raised bog and 34% of the degraded raised bog habitat in Scotland isincluded in designated candidate Special Areas of Conservation.