GENETICALLY MODIFIED MAIZE: AUTHORISATION
OF THE MARKETING OF PRODUCTS (11744/07, 11786/07, 11860/07)
Letter from Rt Hon Dawn Primarolo MP, Minister
of State for Public Health, Department of Health to the Chairman
I refer to the Explanatory Memoranda being submitted
to the European Union Committee for its consideration. I look
forward to hearing the Committee's reaction to these proposals,
but I regret that this cannot take place before the issues have
been presented to the Council of Ministers.
The EU procedures for this type of decision
require the Council to act on the proposal within three months
of it being referred by the Commission. The decisions regarding
authorisation of these three types of genetically modified maize
are due to be taken at the Agriculture Council on 26-27 September.
It is unfortunate that it has not been possible
to complete the scrutiny procedures before the Council meeting,
but I wish to inform the Committee of the Government's decision
to proceed.
Vote on the authorisation of these three types
of GM maize were taken at the Standing Committee on Animal Health
and the Food Chain in June. The UK voted in favour of the authorisations
in line with the Government's agreed policy on supporting safety
and consumer choice in relation to genetically modified organisms.
The Government should therefore proceed on this basis.
20 September 2007
Letter from the Chairman to Rt Hon Dawn Primarolo
MP
Your Explanatory Memorandum on the above Proposals
were considered by Sub-Committee D at its meeting of 10 October
2007.
We agree with the Government that the EFSA opinions
on all three of the Proposals can be supported.
We note that there was No Opinion at the Agriculture
Council of 26 September. We understand that Parliamentary scrutiny
has been over-ridden on this occasion but we appreciate the circumstances
under which this took place.
In this light, we will release the Proposals
from scrutiny.
10 October 2007
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