The U.K.'s Agriculture and Environment Biotechnology Commission (AEBC) - the Government’s independent adviser on biotechnology, agriculture and the environment – has taken a new look at the Farm Scale Evaluations (FSEs), the crop trials which have been used to evaluate the effects of GM crops on biodiversity.

In an open letter, the Commission’s chairman, Professor Malcolm Grant, points out that the results of the FSEs raise as many questions as they answer, and sets out a number of issues that Government and its GM advisory committee ACRE need to look at when thinking about the wider implications of the trials.

The letter asks ACRE to consider whether there are “other ways than through FSE-type experiments” to assess the environmental impact of GM crops.  Professor Grant also suggests that Government consider how the environmental impacts of farming overall should be evaluated, including conventional as well as GM crops.

BACKGROUND 

The Farm Scale Evaluations began in 2000. The results of the final series are due to be published early next year. The Biotechnology Commission published its first detailed review of the FSEs, “Crops on Trial” in 2001.