The Government is planning to change the law to make it more difficult for the public to object to the commercial development of GM crops, according to a confidential note leaked to Friends of the Earth.
The note headlined “Draft Submission on Representation and Hearings” follows the public hearings now underway into the listing of the GM maize variety “CHARDON LL”.
The hearings are being held because lawyers for Friends of the Earth discovered the public’s right to demand them under the “Seeds (National List of Varieties) Regulations.
More than 200 individuals and groups have objected to the listing of CHARDON LL. More than 60 are giving oral evidence at the hearings, which restarted in London on May 20th.But the Department of Environment, Farming and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) is now planning to change the law to prevent objectors from raising GM safety issues at such hearings.
The change could be made before Ministers have to decide on the listing of SHERIDAN (another GM forage maize), due around October 2002.
The listing procedure is the only point in the commercial development of GM crops where the public have a legal right to raise key safety issues and other objections.
The note headlined “Draft Submission on Representation and Hearings” follows the public hearings now underway into the listing of the GM maize variety “CHARDON LL”.
The hearings are being held because lawyers for Friends of the Earth discovered the public’s right to demand them under the “Seeds (National List of Varieties) Regulations.
More than 200 individuals and groups have objected to the listing of CHARDON LL. More than 60 are giving oral evidence at the hearings, which restarted in London on May 20th.But the Department of Environment, Farming and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) is now planning to change the law to prevent objectors from raising GM safety issues at such hearings.
The change could be made before Ministers have to decide on the listing of SHERIDAN (another GM forage maize), due around October 2002.
The listing procedure is the only point in the commercial development of GM crops where the public have a legal right to raise key safety issues and other objections.