Corporate report

Advisory Committee on Releases to the Environment (ACRE) annual report 2022

Published 26 April 2023

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Foreword by the Chair, Professor Jim Dunwell

This is the 29th annual report of the Advisory Committee on Releases to the Environment (ACRE). The report highlights the work of the Committee during the year. You can read more on ACRE’s organisation page.

ACRE is sponsored by the Department for Environment, Food & 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 the devolved administrations of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland on the potential 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 which are not native to Great Britain.

During 2022 ACRE assessed applications for plant research trials on:

  • disease resistant GM potatoes
  • GM wheat with increased photosynthesis potential
  • one application for a GMO clinical trial towards the development of a whooping cough vaccine

In addition to this work, ACRE produced and published detailed technical guidance which accompanies a change to the GMO Deliberate Release regulations in England that came into force in April 2022.

I am very pleased to say that in July 2022, ACRE was able to hold its first full committee meeting for 2 years. This was well attended by members, observers and other officials, and covered a full agenda including a retrospective review of work, plus a forward look to potential areas of emerging significance to the Committee.

As Chair, I would additionally like to express my thanks to 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 principles for the Committee to adhere to, and I am keen that ACRE continues to do so by publishing its advice.

Finally, I would like to take this opportunity to acknowledge the significant contribution to the Committee made by Professor Alan Raybould, who very sadly passed away in October.

Main activities

Meetings

ACRE held a formal committee meeting on 21 July 2022, successfully employing a blended attendance approach with some participants attending remotely by via Microsoft Teams. During the meeting ACRE discussed a number of agenda items including a review of work undertaken since the last meeting as well as a forward look at emerging areas of potential relevance. In addition to this meeting, an ACRE sub-group discussed and formulated guidance to accompany an amendment to the Genetically Modified Organisms (Deliberate Release) Regulations 2002.

Sub-group discussions began in 2021 and finished in 2022.

ACRE conducted other specific areas of business via correspondence as necessary. As part of ACRE’s commitment to openness and transparency, advice the Committee provides is published on the ACRE pages of GOV.UK.

Casework: applications for GM releases for research purposes

ACRE has assessed 2 applications for GM wheat research trials:

  • a new proposal from a commercial start-up
  • a variation to an existing consent

Furthermore, ACRE considered a third application for GM potatoes. Assessments were undertaken in accordance with retained EU legislative requirements. The 2 wheat trials are investigating:

i) The effect of enhanced photosynthesis on plant growth and yield.

ii) Reduced expression of asparagine synthetase to reduce acrylamide levels in the resultant flour when used in food production.

The potato application is for the further development of potatoes resistant to a number of diseases including late blight, potato cyst nematodes, and potato virus Y. These potatoes also exhibit improved tuber quality by the prevention of storage defects such as browning and acrylamide production when used in food production.

ACRE has also assessed one GMO clinical research trial in accordance with retained EU legislative requirements. This clinical trial was for a vaccine against whooping cough, already being trialled under a previous consent advised on by ACRE. This new trial was for a challenge test study in healthy adults, where subjects were to be infected with the wild-type pathogen following vaccination with the genetically modified microorganisms.

The applications, ACRE’s advice and the outcomes are available on the GOV.UK website as follows:

Defra non-native species team and its operational arm, part of the Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA, an executive agency of Defra) are responsible for issuing licenses for the release of non-native biological control agents under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 to control their introduction into the environment. To this end, ACRE was asked to consider an application to release a microbial biological control agent (MBCA) in England.

Forest Research have applied to release a classical non-native MBCA, namely a mycovirus (Cryphonectria Hypovirus 1, [CHV-1]) intended to control the causal agent of sweet chestnut blight, the ascomycete fungus Cyphonectria parasitica. The latter is a quarantine plant pathogen in the UK.

The application was complicated. Although it was to release an MBCA, because the latter is an obligate parasite of a quarantine fungal plant pathogen, this would by necessity also involve the release of cultures of the C. parasitica infected with CHV-1. The lifecycle, host range and other areas of the applicant’s risk assessment therefore included both CHV-1 and C. parasitica within their remits.

ACRE therefore considered the risk of releasing C. parasitica inoculated with CHV-1, and balanced this against any potential benefits of reducing the impact of C. parasitica.

ACRE’s advice is included in the relevant annexes to this report.

ACRE has provided detailed advice to Defra concerning scientific aspects of its consultation on the regulation of organisms resulting from genetic technologies.

The advice is assisting Defra in its consideration of the issues raised by the public consultation, including the scientific aspects of certain safety considerations. ACRE concluded that gene edited organisms do not pose any greater risk than similar organisms produced through traditional breeding methods and will continue to provide independent expert scientific advice to government as this policy area develops.

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 (retained EU law).

Other sources of information about the work and membership of ACRE include:

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