To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions how many applications to release GMOs into the environment have been considered in each year since 1990; for each year how many have been (a) approved and (b) refused; and how many are outstanding. [40321]

Following the introduction of our regulations in March 1993, a total of 152 applications have been considered. These breakdown per year as:

Year	Applications approved	Applications refused	Applications outstanding
1993	15	0	0
1994	24	0	0
1995	40	0	0
1996	28	0	0
1997	25	0	0
1998	14	0	0

Whilst no consents have been refused, in many cases applicants have been required to significantly amend their applications to provide further information to enable a decision to be made. Also, some consents would have been refused unless the applicant had agreed to implement the strict risk management procedures recommended by the Advisory Committee on Releases to the Environment.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions what level of quantifiable risk must be reached before permission to release a GMO into the environment is refused. [40323]

The Department's approach to risk assessment for GMO releases is set out in Chapter 4 of "The Regulation and Control of the Deliberate Release of Genetically Modified Organisms" and this is consistent with the approach published in "A Guide to Risk Assessment and Risk Management for Environmental Protection". These have been placed in the House of Commons library.In all cases we obtain expert advice from the Advisory Committee on Releases to the Environment (ACRE).