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Strengthened regulations on GMOs
05/12/2002
New regulations on the release of genetically modified
organisms (GMOs) into the environment were put in place
today.
The regulations, necessary to implement EU Directive
2001/18/EC, introduce a more transparent regime to control
releases of GMOs. England has similar regulations in place,
Wales and Northern Ireland will follow shortly.
The regulations - which followed a process of detailed
consultation - provide additional safeguards to human
health, the environment, and the wider public beyond the
previous regulatory framework.
They take account of advances in genetic modification
technology and scientific knowledge.
The new regulations provide for:
- an explicit requirement for environmental risk
assessments to cover indirect and long-term
effects.
- the introduction of mandatory post-market
monitoring to look for unanticipated effects of any GMO
that is released.
- mandatory public consultation before decisions are
taken on applications for consent to release GMOs.
- mandatory labelling for all GMOs released
commercially in the EU.
- GMOs must also be traceable throughout the
production and supply chain.
- phasing out of antibiotic resistance markers that
may have adverse effects on human health and the
environment.
- time limits on all commercial approvals (max. 10
years) after which consents must be reassessed.
The regulations will come into force as from today.
The Genetically Modified Organisms (Deliberate Release)
(Scotland) Regulations 2002 have been developed in
conjunction with the UK Government and the other devolved
administrations to ensure that they are workable, flexible
and consistent with law in other parts of the UK.
The regulations transpose EU Directive 2001/18/EC. Many
of the obligations in the Directive allowed little scope
for interpretation or variance when transposing into
national legislation since the new Directive remains firmly
based on a scientific assessment of risk.
The Scottish Executive held two 12-week-long public
consultations on the implementation of the Directive. Each
consultation sought views from stakeholders including local
authorities, community councils, Health Boards, research
establishments, universities, environmental groups and
farming interests as well as MSPs. The first consultation
set out the background to the Directive, examined the main
changes and asked for comments on key implementation
issues. The second invited comments on the draft
implementing regulations.
The regulations were scrutinised by the Scottish
Parliament's Transport & Environment Committee on
November 27and approved by Parliament on 4 December 2002.
England already has similar regulations in place; Wales and
Northern Ireland will follow shortly.