GM Crop Farm-Scale Evaluations
Autumn 2002 GM Oilseed Rape Farm Scale Evaluations - Individual Site Assessments
Objective
Aventis CropScience Ltd holds a licence (Deliberate Release consent) to carry out releases of a particular line of genetically modified crop (oilseed rape) in the farmscale evaluation programme in England. Supplied in the original consent application was Aventis's generic risk assessments and these were considered by a body of independent expert scientists - the Advisory Committee on Releases to the Environment (ACRE), before permission was granted for this programme of work to proceed in England.
Aventis's application and risk assessment are such that the releases may only take place in areas where conventional oilseed rape would be grown normally. The consent holders notified the Department of further proposed locations for release of autumn sown oilseed rape in 2002 indicating that the original risk assessment remained applicable to these sites.
Officials from the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (Defra) have carried out a statutory risk assessment of each of the proposed sites to verify and check that there are no local factors which alter the risk assessment.
Factors such as location and size of the site, the description of the site ecosystem and in particular whether the trial is situated in an area where that crop is normally grown, were considered together with the proximity of each site to sites of special scientific interest (SSSI's). These assessments can be found in the pages that follow [See note and end of this document].
Site assessments
Most of these assessments can be done from within Defra using databases. The grid reference for all sites was checked and in all cases there was satisfactory correspondence. Also checked was the name of the civil parish in which the release was to take place. The proposed acreage of planting was checked to ensure it corresponded to that permitted under the terms of the consent.
Proximity of SSSI's in relation to each release site were checked by English Nature (the statutory conservation body in England). Two locations were identified where a SSSI or part of a SSSI was located within 1 km of a proposed oilseed rape release site (Bincombe, Dorset and Lowthorpe, East Riding of Yorkshire). English Nature has indicated that they are satisfied that these release sites do not pose a risk to the SSSIs in question.
The Health and Safety Executive is content that none of the releases pose a risk to human health.
Each assessment is accompanied by a description of the site ecosystem. This was determined by calculating the density (ha/sq.km) of different land cover types within 5km of each release site using the 1 km square version of the 1990 Land Cover Map. Where figures for the tilled land and managed grassland were low (below 20 ha/sq.km) using this approach officials visited these sites (Burdon, Tyne and Wear), to take a closer look to check that the selected fields were in an arable ecosystem and that there was a history of oilseed rape cultivation in the area (and was compliant with the risk assessment). Other locations were also visited but these were selected at random and not because the studies suggested a closer look (Hinton Waldrist, Oxfordshire is an example). During site visits, a handheld Global Positioning System (GPS) was used to verify the location of the field in relation to the field grid reference supplied by the consent holder.
Conclusions
All sites were found to be compliant with the information submitted by Aventis CropScience Ltd and the overall risk assessments as detailed in consent 01/R33/11.
FARM SCALE EVALUATIONS- Autumn 2002
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| Page Number | 6 Figure Grid Reference | Nearest Settlement | Parish | County/Authority |
| 2 | SJ 714 872 | Little Bollington | Lymm | Cheshire |
| 3 | TM 165 902 | Great Moulton | Great Moulton | Norfolk |
| 4 | SP 231 535 | Alveston /Loxley | Stratford upon Avon | Warwickshire |
| 5 | TL 048 098 | Piccotts End | Great Gaddesden | Hertfordshire |
| 6 | SY 692 841 | Bincombe | Bincombe | Dorset |
| 7 | NZ 394 524 | Burdon | Near Burdon village | Tyne and Wear |
| 8 | NZ 205 367 | Oakenshaw | Oakenshaw | Durham |
| 9 | SU 379 993 | Hinton Waldrist | Hinton Waldrist | Oxfordshire |
| 10 | TQ 882 397 | Smarden | High Halden | Kent |
| 11 | TF 213 972 | Thorganby | Thorganby | Lincolnshire |
| 12 | TF 227 876 | Burgh on Bain | Ludford, East Wykeham & Ludford Magna | Lincolnshire |
| 13 | SJ 398 268 | Bagley | Hordley | Shropshire |
| 14 | SE 841 497 | Kilnwick Percy | Nunburnholme | East Riding Yorkshire |
| 15 | SE 792 276 | Laxton | Kilpin | East Riding Yorkshire |
| 16 | TA 087 602 | Lowthorpe | Harpham | East Riding Yorkshire |
| 17 | TA 015 620 | Little Driffield | Nafferton | East Riding of Yorkshire |
Page published 30 August
2002;
Page last modified
30 August, 2002