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Group
of Experts in charge of evaluating the Farm-Scale Evaluations (FSEs) trials
(Last revised:
February 28, 2006
)
Downloadable documents
- 26 January 2004: Advice of the Biosafety Advisory Council (link to the Council's Web site)
- 15 January 2004: Expertise Report of the Belgian experts with the answered questionnaire (PDF - 1.5 MB)
Background information
The Farm Scale Evaluations
(FSEs) is a four-year programme of research conducted, upon request of the
UK authorities, by independent researchers aimed at studying the effect,
if any, that the management practices associated with Genetically Modified
Herbicide Tolerant (GMHT) crops might have on farmland wildlife, when compared
with weed control used with non-GM crops.
The final
results for the
three spring sown crops, maize, beet and spring oilseed rape, were published
in 2003.
On 28 October 2003, the
Belgian Federal Minister for the Environment, Consumer Protection and Sustainable
Development requested the Biosafety
Advisory Council to
1) formulate
an advice on the FSEs
reports,
2) evaluate whether the FSEs reports provide new elements in terms
of risk assessment for the human health and the environment, and
3) formulate
an advice on the potential impact, if any, of FSEs study with regard to
the oilseed rape notification C/BE/96/01 of
Bayer CropScience (MS8xRF3).
To this end, the Biosafety
Advisory Council mandated a Group of Experts, under
the supervision of 2 coordinators and with the assistance of the Division
of Biosafety and Biotechnology (SBB).
The
experts had to answer to a questionnaire
gathering questions from the SBB, the coordinators, the
members of the Biosafety Advisory Council, the Federal Minister for the Environment,
Consumer Protection and Sustainable Development and the NGOs (Friends of the
Earth, GeneWatch, Greenpeace en Collectif d'Action GEnethique). The source
from the questions remained unknown for the experts.
In total, the Division of Biosafety and Biosafety (SBB) acknowledged eight reports that were separately summarised by the two coordinators of the Group of Expert. On demand of the members of the Biosafety Advisory Council both summaries were merged to a joint report. The joint report contains in annex the answers of the experts to the formulated questions.
Other useful publications/reports
- Advice of the Advisory Committee on Releases to the Environment (ACRE) on the implications of the farm-scale evaluations of genetically modified herbicide-tolerant crops of 13 January 2004
- Eberst et al. (2004) Modelling the effects of farmland food webs of herbicide management in the agricultiral ecosystem. Defra report EPG 1/5/194
- Freckleton et al. (2004) Amelioration of biodiversity impacts of genetically modified crops: predicting transient versus long-term effects. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London: Biological Science, 271: 325-331
- Perry et al. (2004) Ban on triazine herbicides likely to reduce but not negate relative benefits of GMHT maize cropping. Nature, 428: 313- 316
- Ammann (2003) Biodiversity and agricultural biotechnology: a review of the impact of agricultural biotechnology on biodiversity. Report Botanical Garden of Bern - University of Bern
- Chamberlain et al. (2003) Potential value of the Field Scale Evaluations in assessing the impact of GMHT crops on birds and mammals. Defra report EPG 1/5/137
- Chassy et al. (2003) UK field-scale evaluations answer wrong questions. Nature Biotechnology, 21: 1429-1430
- Dewar et al. (2003) A novel approach to the use of genetically modified herbicide-tolerant crops for environmental benefit. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London: Biological Science, 270: 335-340
- Sutherland et al. (2003) Modelling the effects of farmland food webs of herbicide and insecticide management in the agricultiral ecosystem. Defra report EPG 1/5/188
- Watkinson et al. (2000) Predictions of biodiversity response to genetically modified herbicide-tolerant crops. Science, 289: 1554-1557
- Horizontal aspects of herbicide tolerant plants: effects from growing herbicide-tolerant crops on macro-fauna. Report of the Working Group on Herbicide Tolerant Plants of the European Commission
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