UK scientists back GM maize crops

By Alex Kirby
BBC News Online environment correspondent

Maize could be the first to be commercialised

In a significant boost to the prospects for GM crops in the UK, scientists say GM maize will be better for wildlife even after a key chemical is withdrawn.

The scientists, writing in the journal Nature, say the maize will not perform as well as it did in recent trials.

But they believe it will still let more weeds flourish than conventional maize, helping birds and insects to survive.

The chemical, atrazine, was used in the trials, but will shortly be withdrawn from use across the European Union.

The UK government has let it be known that it will make an announcement next week on whether it will permit the commercialisation of GM crops in Britain.

It has maintained that the science will guide its final decision.

Imminent ban

The new technical report comes from the consortium which carried out the four-year trials on GM crops, known as the farm-scale evaluations.

In the trials, fields sown with genetically modified maize produced more weeds and seeds than those planted with conventional maize.

The two other trial crops, oilseed rape and beet, produced contrary results, with the conventional fields emerging more wildlife-friendly than the GM ones.

The independent advisory body Acre (Advisory Committee on Releases to the Environment) told the government that growing GM maize would not have adverse effects on wildlife.

But both Acre and the scientists involved echoed to some degree the concerns of opponents of GM crops, who said the maize trials had been fatally flawed.

This was because the conventional maize grown alongside the GM variety for comparison had been treated with a virulently powerful pesticide called atrazine, which is shortly to be banned throughout the EU.

Anti-GM campaigners said the maize trials would have to be run again with the chemicals introduced to replace atrazine - and then, they said, the supposedly benign GM maize might lose its advantage against the conventional crop.

Benefit drops

Now the scientists, led by Professor Joe Perry from Rothamsted Research, say withdrawing atrazine will lessen the comparative benefits for wildlife of GM maize, but will not cancel them altogether.

Their study used data from the trials to analyse the effect of different weedkiller spraying regimes in conventional maize crop on key wildlife indicators.

They say the index measuring the relative benefit to wildlife of GM crop management compared with conventional crop management was reduced by one-third without atrazine.

Professor Perry said: "The consistency of this reduction across a range of biodiversity indicators gives us confidence to forecast future effects.

"We conclude that the comparative biodiversity benefits from GM maize cropping would be reduced but not eliminated by the withdrawal of atrazine and related chemicals in the UK."

Cabinet decision

The government's long awaited decision on whether to back the GM technology for commercial production will now come in the next few days.

Environment Secretary Margaret Beckett is set to make a wide-ranging policy statement on the issue after ministers discussed the matter on Thursday at a Cabinet meeting.

"You can take it we are on course for an announcement," the Prime Minister's official spokesman said.

"There will be an announcement next week and I am sure all will be revealed then."

The government is not an advocate for GM - we're not here to sell GM to anyone Environment Minister Elliot Morley

Environment Minister Elliot Morley said: "We've always said we were considering our policy on GM crops in the light of all the available evidence.

"If the science shows a particular crop should not be grown, we will not allow it to be grown. Morley said added: "The government is not an advocate for GM - we're not here to sell GM to anyone.

"If people don't want to buy GM produce, they don't have to.

"Clear and accurate labelling is key to informed consumer choice, and all GM products will be clearly labelled."

Parliament will add its voice to the debate before then when its Environmental Audit Committee publishes an evaluation of the farm-scale trials on Friday.

Minutes of a Cabinet committee meeting seen by BBC Two's Newsnight suggest qualified approval for sowing GM maize is about to given.