To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (1) if his Department will require BASF to conduct food safety studies of their GM blight resistant potatoes on the same lines as those required by the Irish government for trials in that country; (147246)

The Advisory Committee on Releases to the Environment has assessed these trials and is satisfied that they will not have any adverse effect on human health or the environment. Given the limited scale of the trials and the management conditions that have been imposed, it is not expected that there will be any transfer of a GM presence into non-GM potato crops. In that context, and given that the GM potatoes will not be used for food or feed, it would not be appropriate in our view to require detailed food safety studies as a pre-condition for the trials to take place. Such studies will be necessary if BASF decides in due course to seek authorisation to market the GM potatoes for food and feed use in the European Union.