ACAF
Advisory Committee On Animal Feedingstuffs
ACAF Secretariat
Food Standards Agency
Room 415b Aviation House
125 Kingsway
London WC2B 6NH
Tel: +44 (0)20 7276 8468
Fax: +44 (0)20 7276 8478
acaf@foodstandards.gsi.gov.uk
ACAF advice on GM oilseed rape
The text of a letter to Baronness Hayman on the presence of GM seeds in commercial supplies of oilseed rape.
Baroness Hayman
Minister of State, Lords
26 May 2000
Dear Lady Hayman
The Advisory Committee on Animal Feedingstuffs was asked for urgent advice on whether there were safety concerns arising from the presence of GM seeds in commercial supplies of oilseed rape. The Committee was asked to concentrate on the implications of feeding the GM variety to farm livestock, both for human and animal health.
On a preliminary basis, we have no reason to disagree with views already attributed to the Advisory Committee on Releases to the Environment (ACRE) and the Food Standards Agency that the adventitious contamination does not pose a risk to the environment or to human health. However, we have not seen a full technical dossier on the RT 73 product, unlike the ACRE and the Advisory Committee on Novel Foods and Processes who have already considered the product as part of their earlier programme of work. The rape seed in question will not be harvested for some weeks and we are therefore now embarking on a detailed review of the extensive dossier.
We expect to present our more considered position to you and other recipients as soon as possible after the next ACAF meeting on 27 June. Please let me know if this is not acceptable to you.
I am writing in similar terms to Sir John Krebs and Ministers responsible in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, copied to Michael Meacher.
PROFESSOR PHILLIP THOMAS
Chairman, Advisory Committee on Animal Feedingstuffs
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