WRITTEN QUESTION E-3773/00

by Erik Meijer (GUE/NGL) to the Commission

(4 December 2000)

Subject: New plants with genes for toxic substances pollinating crops and producing poisonous food plants

1. Is the Commission aware of the report from the British Government's Advisory Committee on Releases to the Environment (ACRE), entitled Guidance on Best Practices in the Design of Genetically Modified Crops, (www.environment.detr.gov.uk/acre/bestprac/index.htm), which establishes that new technologies could be used to prevent genes resistant to herbicides crossing into other plants?

2. Is it aware that the possibility exists, for example, of plants with genes for toxic substances pollinating crops and producing poisonous food plants or GMOs containing novel proteins provoking allergic reactions?

3. Does the Commission share ACRE's concern regarding these potential hazards, and would it endorse the guidelines issued by the Committee on minimising the risk of gene flow?

4. Does it share the view expressed in the New Scientist of 28 October 2000 by Brian Johnson, who serves on the UK Government conservation body, English Nature, that technologies currently in development capable of combating these undesirable effects should not be patented but instead made widely available?

5. Does the Commission endorse ACRE's recommendation that, when plants are modified, they should be engineered in a way that minimises the risk of gene flow via cross-pollination?

6. Is it aware (for example, through the report in the New Scientist of 21 October 2000) that examples of such gene flow have already occurred?

7. Is it aware that the creation of buffer zones is not totally effective in preventing such gene flow?

8. Will the Commission consider proposing the modification of legislation to ensure that licences are not issued for the development or cultivation of GMOs in the open environment which do not use best available technology to prevent gene flow, to ensure that as little DNA as possible is added in the modification of organisms, that the use of antibiotic resistance markers is eliminated, and that technologies are developed and employed to ensure that genes added to plants are expressed only when and where needed?

Answer given by Mrs Wallström on behalf of the Commission

(19 February 2001)

1. and 2. The report of the British Advisory Committee on Releases to the Environment (ACRE) summarises general principles that should be taken into account during the development of a genetically modified organism (GMO).

According to Council Directive 90/220/EEC of 23 April 1990 on the deliberate release into the environment of genetically modified organisms(1), all specific characteristics of the plant, i.e. cross-pollination and the inserted trait, including potential toxic or allergenic effects, have to be evaluated in a comprehensive environmental risk assessment prior to the placing on the market of a GMO.

3. and 4. Gene flow is a natural phenomenon, which can only be influenced by substantial technical interference such as using physical barriers, cutting the reproductive organs for breeding purposes or genetic engineering.

Methodologies to directly influence the reproduction of genetically modified organisms have been and are currently being developed. But as demonstrated i.e. by the discussion on the so-called terminator technology, these developments are the subject of controversial public discussion and concern. These ongoing discussions include, in addition to the question of whether these technologies should be applied at all, the issue of free access to these technologies.

5. to 7. The development and the final characteristics of a GMO are determined by the notifier. Guidelines, as they are now proposed by the ACRE, might be helpful in that respect, as they draw attention to specific important points and developments that will be addressed in the environmental risk assessment.

During the risk assessment, all potential effects of a GMO and the inserted trait have to be taken into account and evaluated. Depending on this risk assessment, appropriate measures have to be taken to minimise the risk of the deliberate release including the spread of a trait in order to ensure the highest level of protection for human health and the environment.

8. Directive 90/220/EEC is the core element in the regulatory framework for biotechnology. It sets out the procedures for approvals concerning the initial placing on the market of GMOs. The revised Directive to be adopted shortly provides for an efficient and transparent regulatory framework guaranteeing a high level of protection for human health and the environment.

The specific question of antibiotic resistance marker genes is explicitly addressed in the revised Directive 90/220/EEC where an obligation to phase out the use of these markers by the end of 2004 has been included.

(1) OJ L 117, 8.5.1990.