GM Crop Farm Scale Evaluations:
Scientific Steering Committee Minutes
July 7th 2000
| Attending: | Members: | Professor Mick Crawley (Imperial College) (Acting Chairman) Dr Alastair Burn (EN) Dr David Gibbons (RSPB) Mr Jim Orson (Morley Research Centre) Dr Nick Sotherton (GCT) |
| Secretariat: | Dr Linda Smith (DETR) Dr Andrew Wakeham-Dawson (DETR) |
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| Assessor: | Mr Dave Bench (MAFF) | |
| Contractors: | Dr Les Firbank (CEH) Mr David Brooks (CEH) Dr Matt Heard (CEH) Dr Mark Hill (CEH) Dr Peter Rothery (CEH) Dr David Boham (IACR) Dr Alan Dewar (IACR) Dr Alison Haughton (IACR) Dr Juliet Osborne (IACR) Dr Cathy Hawes (SCRI) |
Apologies for absence
Apologies for absence were received from Professor Chris Pollock (Chairman) (IGER) and Dr Nicholas Aebischer (GCT).
Field visit
Before the meeting, the Committee inspected a FSE maize site and Consortium field researchers demonstrated protocols for assessment of vegetation, seed and invertebrate populations.
Introduction
The Secretariat and the Chairman outlined the main reasons for holding this meeting. These were:
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(i) to assess progress on the selection of winter oilseed
rape experimental sites;
(ii) to discuss how papers relating to FSE statistical methods
will be published, and
(iii) to present SSC members with a draft discussion paper
that English Nature has prepared on modelling and definition of acceptable
levels of risk to biodiversity from GM crop management.
Winter oilseed rape site selection
The Research Consortium presented the winter oilseed rape sites they have selected from over 30 sites offered by SCIMAC, together with an analysis of a number of measures of farm management practice and biodiversity.
The Committee considered the sites submitted by SCIMAC and selected by the Consortium. The Committee noted that these sites have representative geographical distribution, and demonstrate appropriate ranges of farm type, management intensity and biodiversity. The Consortium suggested that in some geographical regions, where there was a surplus of sites, it might be possible to select for less intensive and higher biodiversity score sites to improve the representation of these indicators. However, it was noted that winter oilseed rape is a crop characteristic of more intensive arable systems. The Committee agreed the selection of sites made by the Consortium.
Statistics
Statistical methods relating to the FSE will be published in peer-reviewed scientific journals. However, the Committee thought it would be helpful if a summary of the power analysis used to establish the number of fields needed in the FSE was published on the DETR FSE web-site. The power analysis indicates the number of farms required to give the statistical power to test the null hypothesis that there is no significant difference in the effects on farmland biodiversity from management of genetically modified (GM) herbicide tolerant crops compared with management of equivalent conventional non-GM crops. CEH and IACR statisticians are preparing this summary.
Acceptable risk to biodiversity
English Nature presented a draft discussion paper addressing modelling and definition of acceptable levels of risk to biodiversity associated with GM crop management. This paper has been presented to the ACRE Sub-group on Wider Biodiversity Issues, whose remit it is to address this issue. The paper was presented to the SSC members at the current meeting to update them on the role of the sub-group and because this issue is relevant to the interpretation of FSE results. The Committee agreed that little is known about potential impacts on higher taxa that could result from changes in lower taxa biodiversity in agricultural ecosystems. English Nature/DETR are planning to hold a workshop to discuss this issue in the autumn.
Any other business
MAFF reported that it is reviewing GM crop separation distances, and that the report will be presented to Ministers shortly. The Committee though it unlikely that any changes in separation distance would influence potential numbers of FSE sites in the future.
The Committee discussed potential cumulative effects on biodiversity of GM crop management in consecutive years. Although there is a possibility that cumulative effects of GM maize herbicide management in crops grown in subsequent years at the same site could occur in the FSE, the FSE are not designed to investigate these effects. However, the Committee recognised that this is an issue that will have to be the subject of separate research. Models of cumulative effects could potentially be based on FSE data, and in fact, such cumulative effects are already being investigated in the Botanical and Rotational Implications of Genetically Modified Herbicide Tolerance (BRIGHT) project started in 1988 and funded by MAFF.
Next meeting
Wednesday 1 November 2000 has been selected provisionally for the next SSC meeting.
There being no other business, the meeting closed at 14:30 hours
Page published 22 August
2000;
Page last modified
25 February, 2003