- Asked by: Mark Ruskell, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Green Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 05 March 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Allan Wilson on 19 March 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive what percentage of the number of sites containing (a) active raised bog and (b) degraded raised bog capable of regeneration is included in currently proposed Special Areas for Conservation.
Answer
Twenty five sites have been designated as candidate SpecialAreas of Conservation for active raised bog in Scotland. This is around 9% of the sites identified as supporting some amount of active bog in the ScottishNatural Heritage report
An inventory of lowland raised bogs in Great Britain (Lindsay, R.A. and Immirzi,P., 1996).
Twenty two sites have beendesignated as candidate Special Areas of Conservation for degraded raised bogstill capable of natural regeneration. This is just over 6% of the sitesidentified as supporting some amount of bog capable of regeneration in the samereport.
Many of the sites describedin the inventory are small remnants of previously larger sites.
- Asked by: Mark Ruskell, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Green Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 05 March 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Allan Wilson on 19 March 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive whether the release of Chardon LL mai'e is still legal under EU directive 2001/18/EC, given that its transgenic insert changed from the structure reported in the company's original dossier.
Answer
The Advisory Committee onReleases to the Environment (ACRE) has recently considered two reports whichclaimed that independent analysis had identified discrepancies in the molecularcharacterisation of approved GM products.
ACRE consider that the additional information was due torecent improvements in the methods for the analysis of transformation events anddid not give rise to an additional risk. However, ACRE haverequested further information to allow them to complete their own analysis and,if necessary, will review relevant risk assessments in light of this information.
ACRE are satisfied that the original consent remainslegal since there is no evidence that the GM insert in Chardon LL maize haschanged.
- Asked by: Mark Ruskell, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Green Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 05 March 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Allan Wilson on 19 March 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive what studies on hori'ontal gene flow from GM crops have been carried out and what the results of any such studies were.
Answer
The review of GM scienceexamined the issue of horizontal gene flow and concluded that it is veryinfrequent and could happen whether the plant was transgenic, conventional ororganic. However, the Advisory Committee on Releases to the Environmentconsiders the potential consequences of horizontal gene flow, as part of theircase-by-case assessment. This approach is endorsed by the Science Review Panel.
The Executive, together withthe other UK Administrations, acknowledges that further research would bebeneficial to improve knowledge and understanding of soil ecosystems.
- Asked by: Mark Ruskell, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Green Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 05 March 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Allan Wilson on 19 March 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive whether experiences of farmers in North America have informed any decision on the possible future of genetically modified organisms.
Answer
The Executive’s policy on GMcrops is based on all relevant information.
Farming conditions in North Americaare vastly different to farming conditions in Scotland. As such theexperiences of North American farmers are not directly relevant to the Scottishsituation. However, our expert advisory committees continually monitor all newscientific developments and if necessary update their advice.
Unlike North American governments,we intend to introduce statutory co-existence measures to protect the interestsof non-GM farmers.
- Asked by: Mark Ruskell, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Green Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 05 March 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Allan Wilson on 19 March 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will make a ministerial statement on any decision to place Chardon LL mai'e, or any other GM crop, on the UK national seeds list.
Answer
I set out the position onthe national seed listing of Chardon LL in my ministerial statement on 10 March 2004.
- Asked by: Mark Ruskell, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Green Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 05 March 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Allan Wilson on 19 March 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive whether Scottish Natural Heritage has the responsibility for implementing surveillance of the conservation status of priority habitats and species in Scotland under Article 11 of the EC Habitats Directive.
Answer
I refer the member to the answer given to question S2W-6758 on 19 March 2004.All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at
http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/search_wa.
- Asked by: Mark Ruskell, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Green Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 05 March 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Allan Wilson on 19 March 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive what the current European Commission guidance is on the area and number and/or distribution of sites for active raised bog and degraded raised bog capable of regeneration needing to be protected with Special Area for Conservation status within Scotland.
Answer
Article 4.1 of the Habitats Directive provides guidance on the selection process for SpecialAreas of Conservation. This states that member states should propose a list ofsites based on the criteria laid out in Annex III of the Directive and relevantscientific information. On the basis of these criteria, member states will designateareas according to their relative value for the conservation of each naturalhabitat type identified in Annex I of the Directive.
Theweb link to the Habitats Directive is:
http://europa.eu.int/comm/environment/nature/habdir.htm.In accordance with Article4.2 the UK list of raised bog sites has been the subject of detailed discussionwith the European Commission.
- Asked by: Mark Ruskell, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Green Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 05 March 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Allan Wilson on 19 March 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive how many hectares of (a) active raised bog and (b) degraded raised bog capable of regeneration there are in Scotland.
Answer
It is estimated that approximately3,300 hectares of bog habitat meets the definition of active raised bog, andthat approximately 5,500 hectares meet the definition of degraded raised bogcapable of natural regeneration.
- Asked by: Mark Ruskell, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Green Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 05 March 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Allan Wilson on 19 March 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive what information it has on the number of ruminant feeding studies there have been by independent researchers using Chardon LL mai'e and the results of such studies.
Answer
A cattle feeding study wascarried out by researchers at Reading University to investigate the effect of T25 (Chardon LL) maizeon ruminants. The study has been completed and the researchers intend to submittheir study to a peer-reviewed journal for publication. The Advisory Committeeon Releases to the Environment (ACRE) will be asked to fully assess the datawhen the peer review process is complete.
The researchers haveconfirmed that the study does not reveal any adverse effects on the health ofruminants fed T25 maize.
- Asked by: Mark Ruskell, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Green Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 05 March 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Allan Wilson on 19 March 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive whether any studies comparing the biodiversity impact of GM crops with organic crops are planned.
Answer
The Scottish Executive is not aware of any planned studies comparing the biodiversity impactof GM crops with organic crops.
