ACRE Meetings

ACRE/07/M1

MINUTES OF THE 113th MEETING OF ACRE IN ROOM 806, NOBEL HOUSE, LONDON, THURSDAY 22ND FEBRUARY 2007

Attendance:

Members:

Professor C Pollock (Chairman)
Dr P Hirsch
Professor K Lindsey
Mr E Cross
Dr J Stoye
Professor M Bailey
Professor J Bale
Professor J Dunwell
Professor A Peters
Dr R Hails
Professor M Rees

Assessors:

Dr J Davey SASA
Ms E Cross WAG
Dr B Gove Natural England

Defra:

Dr A Gilliland (Secretary)
Dr L Ball
Dr K Morley
Dr S Popple
Mrs S Wort
Ms G Townsend
Mr D Sherlock

Apologies for absence were received from Professor Pretty, Dr Hulme and Mr Orson.

The chairman announced that Dr Hulme would be standing down from the committee as he was taking up a post in New Zealand, and offered thanks on behalf of the committee for Dr Hulme's services.

1. Minutes of the 111th Meeting, September 28th 2006

The minutes were agreed with one amendment.

2.  Matters Arising

2.1 Office move

Following relocation to Nobel House, the secretariat was obliged to change venues and dates for ACRE meetings in 2007. The secretary thanked members for being accommodating in respect of these changes. 

2.2 Austrian safeguard actions 

The Environment Council on 18 December 2006 voted on revoking the Austrian safeguard actions on T25 and MON 810 maize. There was a qualified majority against the proposal, therefore the safeguard action remains in place.

2.3 Hungarian safeguard action

The Environment Council on 20 February 2007 voted on revoking the safeguard action by Hungary on cultivation of MON810 maize.  There was a qualified majority against the proposal therefore the safeguard action remains in place.

ACRE continued to note with concern that safeguard actions were being upheld in Europe for political reasons rather than on the basis of scientific evidence.

2.4 Application by Florigene Ltd to market carnation ‘Florigene Moonlite’
ref C/NL/04/02.

The Environment Council on 20 February 2007 voted on this application but no qualified majority was reached. 

2.5 SACGM compendium of guidance

The guidance was launched on February 1st 2007 at a SACGM open meeting.  The guidance was well-received and the contribution by ACRE was acknowledged. The chairman thanked those members who had been involved in the SACGM discussions and drafting committees and highlighted that this was an excellent example of joint committee work. 

3.  Matters agreed by circulation

3.1  ACRE Wider Issues report “Managing the Footprint of Agriculture: Towards a Comparative Assessment of Risks”

Changes to this report were agreed, as were the responses to the consultees. There is still no firm date yet for the launch of the final report and response document (possibly May 2007) and the secretariat is continuing to work on this. Members felt it was important to get the press coverage right and have a constructive debate on the issues the report raises.

3.2  Application under Regulation (EC) No. 1829/2003 on genetically modified food and feed for authorisation of 40-3-2 soybean for cultivation in the EU.

Preliminary advice was agreed by circulation. ACRE’s comments on the applicant’s environmental risk assessment and post-market monitoring plan   were transmitted to EFSA.

3.3 Defra-funded desk study ‘Agronomic and environmental implications of the establishment of GM herbicide tolerant problem weeds’

ACRE advice on the implications of findings from this study was published on the Defra web site in February together with the report.

3.4 Defra-funded research report ‘Strategies for risk assessment, minimising the environmental impact of fungal disease suppressing GM bacteria and plants on non-target species’.

This report was published on the Defra website in January.

4.  Proposed change of release site for GM potato plants modified to confer resistance to potato blight
ref 06/R42/01 ACRE/07/P7

The committee was asked to consider information provided by BASF Plant Sciences in relation to the release of GM potato lines modified to confer resistance to potato late blight.  ACRE previously advised ministers that it saw no reason for the release not to proceed if certain conditions were adhered to.  The conditions advised by ACRE were included in the release consent (06/R42/01) issued by the Secretary of State for the Environment on 1 December 2006. 

BASF has submitted details of a new site in East Yorkshire. The new site is intended to replace the Derbyshire site notified in the first application, no other changes to the release are proposed.  BASF concluded that the new site did not alter the environmental risk assessment for the release of the GM potato lines.

Members were asked to consider whether they were content with BASF’s conclusion that the environmental risk assessment was not changed by the new information provided.  ACRE was also asked to consider whether the advice previously issued also applied to the release of GM potatoes at the proposed new release site.  The committee agreed that there were no site-specific issues raised in the discussion of the release of the potato lines notified by BASF or in any previous releases of GM potatoes in the UK.  The committee re-iterated that there are no sexually compatible wild relatives of potatoes in the UK.  ACRE therefore concluded from the information provided that there is no evidence or other reason that a release at the newly proposed site would pose a greater risk to human health or the environment than the sites previously notified.

The secretariat informed the committee that public representations relating to any risks of damage to the environment by the proposed release would be sought.  The committee will be asked to consider all representations highlighting new relevant issues.

Action: ACRE secretariat to circulate provisional advice based on the Committee’s discussion.  This advice may be revised in response to public comments relating to risks of damage to the environment.

5. Application under Regulation (EC) No. 1829/2003 on genetically modified food and feed for authorisation to use NK603 X MON810 maize in the European Union, including the use for cultivation of varieties
ACRE/07/P1

Monsanto has submitted a notification under the EU’s Food and Feed Regulation to cultivate NK603 x MON810 maize in the EU. NK603 x MON810 maize is produced from a single cross of NK603 and MON810 inbred lines by traditional breeding methods. NK603 maize contains the cp4 epsps gene which confers resistance to glyphosate herbicide.  MON810 maize contains the Cry1Ab gene which confers resistance to lepidopteran insects including the European corn borer (Ostrinia nubialis) and pink borers (Sesamia spp.).  The hybrid NK603 x MON810 contains both the cp4 epsps and Cry 1Ab genes and is resistant to lepidopteran insects and tolerant to the herbicide glyphosate.

The notification is currently at an early stage in the regulatory process.  ACRE will consider the application again once it is in complete form after EFSA has issued its scientific opinion. ACRE was asked to identify any concerns that could be highlighted to the competent authority leading on the evaluation of the environmental risk assessment (ERA) under Directive 2001/18/EC and to EFSA prior to the publication of its opinion.

ACRE has already has given a positive opinion on an application for import and processing of this maize hybrid under Directive 2001/18/EC.  The committee was satisfied from the information provided on the molecular characterisation of this hybrid maize that they were dealing with the same event as before and therefore had no further comments to make on this.

The committee has previously assessed the cultivation of MON810 maize under Directive 90/220/EEC.  ACRE noted that this maize now has a history of cultivation in the EU and has been widely studied, particularly with respect to its effect on non-target insects.  Published studies and the information provided in the current dossier indicate that the impact of cultivating both MON810 maize and hybrid NK603 x MON 810 maize on non-target organisms will be negligible.  The committee was content with the information provided with respect to these effects.  The committee was also content that the insect resistance management plan provided was adequate for the proposed release.

ACRE assessed a previous application from Monsanto which included the cultivation of NK603 maize (application EFSA/GMO/NL/2005/22) in July 2006.  The committee noted that insufficient information was included by the notifier with respect to impacts of the management techniques to be used on NK603 maize.  ACRE considers that the notifier has provided insufficient information on this aspect of the environmental risk assessment in the current application.  Monsanto puts forward the argument that this maize is suited to use in reduced till systems which can lead to environmental benefits.  However, the notifier gives no indication that a management regime involving reduced tillage  will be used in practice.  The committee accepts that different herbicide regimes will have different impacts on farmland biodiversity.  However, the committee considers that evidence has not been provided to support the conclusion that there is a negligible risk posed by the specific management methods associated with the cultivation of NK603 x MON810 maize. Therefore comments made by the committee on the environmental risk assessment for NK603 maize also apply to the current application.

The post market monitoring plan provided for this application was discussed briefly and the committee believes that it is inadequate in its current form.  As in the previous application for the cultivation of NK603, further information is required on the environmental risk assessment of this product. Changes to the ERA are likely to result in an altered post-market monitoring plan. The committee will therefore wait until a complete application has been received before assessing the post market monitoring plan in detail.

Action: ACRE secretariat to draft comments for transmission to EFSA based on ACRE’s discussion.

6. ACRE generic advice on notifications under Regulation (EC) No. 1829/2003, including ACRE advice on the Opinion of the EFSA Scientific Panel on GMOs on the placing on the market of glufosinate-tolerant GM LLCotton25, for food and feed uses, and import and processing under Regulation (EC) 1829/2003 from Bayer CropScience.
ACRE/07/P2

ACRE has discussed previously issuing general advice on notifications submitted under Regulation (EC) 1829/2003 that are for import but that do not include cultivation. It is not within ACRE’s remit to consider the safety of these GMOs for food and feed use and its advice is concerned solely with environmental risk.

ACRE emphasised that it will continue to assess each notification on a case by case basis but would consider issuing general advice for at least two categories of notifications that include import but not cultivation in their scope. The first would be for GM crops that do not grow under UK conditions e.g. cotton and rice. ACRE will assess these GMOs to determine whether the GM event has increased the potential of the crop to survive in the UK. If this is not the case, then environmental exposure to such GMOs (even if seed is spilled during import and processing) will be negligible. These GMOs will not flower if seed is spilt.

The second category of GMOs that ACRE will consider for general advice includes crops such as maize that do not establish outside of agricultural conditions (but that are cultivated in the UK). These differ from GMOs in the first category in that there is a low potential for GM plants to germinate from seed spilt during transportation and processing. It is unlikely that these plants will flower. ACRE will assess all notifications for GMOs that could be represented by general advice of this type. This will involve determining whether a GM event alters the ability of the GM crop to survive and persist in the environment (if its seed is spilled during transportation and processing).

ACRE considers that monitoring of seed/ grain spillage that occurs during the importation of GMOs (that do not have approval for cultivation in the EU) may be necessary for risk management purposes. However, if the risk assessment of a GMO does not identify a potential risk associated with seed spillage, then case-specific monitoring is not required.

ACRE assessed the EFSA GMO Panel’s Opinion on Bayer CropScience’s notification to import and process GM LLCotton25. This notification was submitted under Regulation (EC) 1829/2003 and its scope includes use as food and feed. Food and feed safety is not within ACRE’s remit and as such, the Committee focused on the environmental risk assessment and post-market monitoring plan. ACRE agreed with the GMO Panel’s conclusion that it is ‘unlikely that LLCotton25 will have any adverse effect on the environment in the context of its proposed uses’. ACRE considered that its view on this notification should be issued within the first category of general advice.

Action: ACRE secretariat to draft general advice for two categories of import notifications (submitted under Regulation (EC) 1829/2003) and circulate to ACRE for comment.

7.  Update on applications for authorisation under the GM Food and Feed Regulation (EC) No. 1829/2003
ACRE/07/P3

• There have been no new notifications submitted under Regulation (EC) 1829/2003 since ACRE’s last meeting (in December 2006). However, the status of some of the existing notifications has changed:
• Notification EFSA/GMO/UK/2006/29 has been withdrawn.
• EFSA/GMO/NL/2005/26 is now a valid notification. This is a notification submitted by Monsanto and it is for the cultivation of NK603 x MON810 maize. ACRE discussed this notification as an earlier agenda item at this meeting.

The EFSA GMO Panel has issued its scientific Opinion on notification EFSA/GMO/NL/2005/13. This is a notification to market LLCotton25 for import and processing (and food and feed use). The Opinion was considered by ACRE under the previous agenda item.

8. Defra-funded research report – Prediction, sampling and management of GM impurities in fields and harvested yields of oilseed rape (VS0126)
ACRE/07/P4

Defra has received a draft final report from a research project entitled “Prediction, sampling and management of GM impurities in fields and harvested yields of oilseed rape”.  The project (VS0126) was commissioned by Defra to investigate the impact of GM impurities in sown seed and as volunteer presence in fields on GM presence in harvested grain.  The research team addressed this aim by developing a stochastic model based on the lifecycle of an individual oilseed rape plant using data from previously published studies to populate the model.  The model assisted in providing management guidelines for volunteer control for oilseed rape farmers who took part in the farm-scale evaluations of GM herbicide tolerant crops.  ACRE previously commented that the management guidelines give farmers a useful indication of how to reduce volunteer presence in subsequent oilseed rape crops.

The project team also assessed the potential economic impact of converting from GM to non-GM oilseed rape cropping whilst complying with the traceability and labelling regulations.

In addition, the project also aimed to investigate the impact of spatial heterogeneity on the accuracy of estimated GM presence from sampling of fields and grain piles.  The report describes how statistical models were used to determine how much sampling effort was required to gain an accurate estimate of the level of GM presence. The team sampled oilseed rape crops grown as part of a different project (CB02033) on former FSE oilseed rape sites where GM volunteers were patchily distributed. ACRE had previously seen and provided advice on a draft version of the report for project CB02033 in July 2006. The report for project CB02033 will be published in due course and will also be published in scientific journals.

ACRE was asked to consider whether the VS0126 report added to their previous understanding of volunteer persistence in former GM oilseed rape fields. The committee does not believe that this report furthers its understanding of the persistence of volunteer oilseed rape. 
The committee noted that the issues investigated in this report were not related to the impact of GMOs or their management on the environment.

Action: ACRE secretariat to make arrangements for publication of the VS0126 report on the web.

9.  Farmland biodiversity and the footprint of agriculture – paper in Science by Butler et al., 2006 Science Vol. 315 no. 5810 p381-384
ACRE/07/P5

This research paper was published in Science in January and contains details of a risk assessment model that was applied to the release of GM herbicide tolerant sugar beet on farmland bird populations. 

The risk assessment model scores the risk posed by a change in the availability of the ecological requirements (such as dietary components, foraging or nesting sites) of each farmland bird species. The scoring system was validated using data on the impact of previous agricultural intensification on farmland birds.  The team found that the risk score for a given change was closely related to the conservation category (red, amber or green) in which the bird was listed.

The management practices associated with glyphosate tolerant sugar beet in the Farm Scale Evaluations (FSE) were found to reduce invertebrate and weed species growing within GMHT beet fields.  The current study used FSE data on the abundance of farmland bird resources to predict changes in the conservation status of farmland bird species.

Although previous studies have related bird species’ diets to the findings of FSE results (e.g. Bohan et al., 2006), this is the first study to broadly predict how bird populations might change in response to resource requirements. 

The research team identified 39 farmland bird species that might be affected by changes in invertebrates and weeds on the cropped area of GMHT sugar beet.  However the model identified only 1 species, the meadow pipet, which is likely to be reclassified from amber to red listing as a result of replacing the sugar beet area with GMHT sugar beet.

ACRE previously concluded  “if GMHT beet were to be grown and managed as in the FSEs this would result in adverse effects on arable weed populations, as defined and assessed by criteria specified in Directive 2001/18/EC, compared with conventionally managed beet.  The effects on arable weeds would be likely to result in adverse effects on organisms at higher trophic levels (e.g. farmland birds), compared with conventionally managed beet”. ACRE was asked to consider whether the evidence presented in this paper changes its previous advice on the impact of GMHT sugar beet management practices in the FSEs.

ACRE welcomed this paper and commented that the authors had provided a useful approach to assessing the environmental impact of changes in agricultural practice.  The Committee stressed the importance of this type of research to inform policy decisions on agriculture.  The model only explained 20% of the variance in annual growth rates of bird populations and the committee therefore noted that the predictions of the model would require further investigation before conclusions could be accepted. The Committee recommended that a sensitivity analysis of the model should be conducted to identify key assumptions that could be investigated through further research. 

The Committee noted that it is not always possible to extrapolate changes at one trophic level such as weed abundance to higher trophic levels such bird populations. Weed seeds are a sensitive indicator of change and are dependent on resources only available in the field; conversely farmland birds are able to obtain resources from multiple sources. It is therefore not surprising that there may be some resilience displayed by farmland bird populations to changes in resource availability in GMHT beet fields.  However the European Deliberate Release legislation requires all biodiversity to be considered when assessing the impact of GM crops, not only iconic species such as farmland birds.  The identification of the meadow pipit as a bird population that would be expected to be reduced in GMHT sugar beet crops surprised members who noted that the species is not frequently associated with this habitat.  The Committee concluded that this paper presents a useful tool for assessing novel technologies or changes in farming practices but does not alter the advice previously issued by ACRE with respect to the farm scale evaluations.

10.  ACRE annual report 2006
ACRE/07/P6

Members were asked to consider the scope and content of the draft annual report and provide any updates to their biographies or the register of their interests. The chairman asked for the section on the work plan to reflect the need for the committee to maintain and extend its expertise in the area of GM human and veterinary medicines. The secretary notified members that Defra would be letting a research contract which would inform ACRE’s work in these areas.   

ACTION: Members to provide drafting comments to the secretariat by 2 March

11.  Items for information

11.1  A commentary on the BRIGHT programme on the herbicide tolerant crops and the implications of the BRIGHT and farm-scale evaluation programmes for the development of herbicide tolerant crops in Europe – paper in Outlooks on Pest Management.
ACRE/07/INF1

Members noted this paper.

11.2  Defra-funded research report: ‘The Received Wisdom’
ACRE/07/INF2

This study was commissioned by Defra to analyse the effectiveness of lay members on advisory committees and members noted the DEMOS paper ‘The Received Wisdom’ resulting from the project.   Members noted this paper.

11.3 Weed monitoring working group

The secretariat arranged for a group of experts, including some members of ACRE, to discuss this issue after the main 22 February meeting. The group will aim to assist ACRE make recommendations to Defra about establishing an arable weed monitoring programme, or at least a set of experiments that would facilitate this aim.

ACTION: ACRE secretariat to report back to the Committee on the outcome of the meeting and next steps

12.  Any other business

None

13.  Date and time of next meeting

The next meeting will be on Thursday 3 May at 10.00am in Nobel House. It had been agreed that the meeting in September would be hosted by Professor Pretty at the University of Essex.   

ACRE Secretariat
February 2007