Corporate report

ACRE annual report 2019

Published 20 March 2020

1. Foreword by the Deputy Chair, Professor Jim Dunwell

This is the twenty-sixth annual report of the Advisory Committee on Releases to the Environment (ACRE). The report highlights the work of the Committee during the year; fuller details are published at www.gov.uk/government/organisations/advisory-committee-on-releases-to-the-environment.

ACRE is sponsored by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) and is an advisory non-departmental public body. ACRE’s primary function is to provide statutory advice to the UK government, and Devolved Administrations of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland on the risks to human health and the environment from the release, and marketing, of genetically modified organisms (GMOs). ACRE also advises on the release of certain non-GM species that are proposed for use as biological control agents and that are not native to Great Britain.

In summary, during 2019 ACRE issued advice on seven GM products for commercial import and, or, processing; assessed five applications for GM trials for research purposes; advised on one application to release a non-native species as a bio-control agent; and considered five EU applications for marketing GM medicinal products (three human medicines and two veterinary medicines).

The Chair of ACRE for the previous six years, Rosie Hails, stepped down in August, and one member, Ian Crute, also stepped down during the year. Their expertise, and commitment to the Committee is gratefully appreciated, and remaining members wish Rosie well in her future pursuits, and Ian a long and healthy retirement. A recruitment campaign to appoint a new Chair, and two new members to ACRE has been launched. The outcome of the campaign will be published on the ACRE pages of Gov.uk in due course. As Deputy-Chair, I am overseeing the issue of this report, and it falls to me to thank current members of ACRE for their continuing support, and dedication. I should also like to thank the assessors, and the ACRE secretariat for their efforts in supporting the work of the Committee. Openness and transparency are important, and I am keen that ACRE continues to follow these principles by publishing its advice and continuing to hold its meetings in public.

2. Main activities

2.1 Meetings

ACRE sub-groups met to discuss specific areas of business as necessary. As part of ACRE’s commitment to openness and transparency, ACRE’s advice has been published on the ACRE pages of gov.uk.

2.2 Casework

Applications for GM releases for research purposes

ACRE has assessed five applications to release GMOs for research purposes under Directive 2001/18 and the Genetically Modified Organisms (Deliberate Release) Regulations 2002. The applications, ACRE’s advice, and the outcome of the applications are available on the Gov.UK website as follows:

• GM camelina crop trial
• GM wheat crop trial
• GM brassica crop trial
• GM potato crop trial
• Clinical trial of GM Salmonella enterica

The clinical trial was assessed on behalf of the Welsh Government.

Food and feed marketing applications

ACRE considered seven opinions issued by EFSA, the European Food Safety Authority, on notifications for placing GM maize, and soybean on the market. The applications were for import or processing, and not cultivation. In each of the cases considered, ACRE was satisfied that the GM products posed no greater risk to human health or the environment than their conventional counterparts. Nearly all the marketing applications that ACRE assessed are processed through Regulation (EC) No. 1829/2003. Details of the products may be accessed from the links below:

• ACRE advice: applications to market GM soybeans and maize
• ACRE advice: applications to market GM cotton and rice
• ACRE advice: applications to market GM oilseed rape

Medicinal marketing applications

ACRE was also asked to advise government on the environmental risk assessment aspects of marketing applications for five medicinal products containing, or consisting of, a GMO. These applications are submitted to the European Medicines Agency under Regulation (EC) No. 726/2004. Under this Regulation information on the assessment of the application is only made available as part of The European Public Assessment Report following the European Commission’s decision at the end of the assessment process.

2.3 Other advisory duties

ACRE discussed an application made to Defra to release a fungus, Mycosphaerella polygoni-cuspidati, into the wider environment as a biological control agent for Japanese knotweed. The fungus is not native to Great Britain, so a license as a non-native biological control agent under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 is required in order to release it into the environment. ACRE concluded that the fungus poses a low risk to non-target organisms but could provide substantial benefits to the environment as a biological control agent of Japanese knotweed.

2.4 Governance and transparency

ACRE is a statutory advisory committee appointed under section 124 of the Environmental Protection Act, 1990. The Committee provides advice to government regarding the release and marketing of GMOs. ACRE works within the legislative framework set out in Part VI of the Environmental Protection Act, and the GMO Deliberate Release Regulations, 2002, which, together, implement Directive 2001/18/EC.

Below are links to various sources of information relating to the work and membership of ACRE:

• Framework agreement
• Terms of reference
• Members’ biographies and register of their interests