Corporate report

ACRE annual report 2018

Published 16 August 2019

1. Foreword by the Chair, Professor Rosie Hails

This is the twenty-fifth annual report of the Advisory Committee on Releases to the Environment (ACRE). The report highlights the work of the Committee; our advice, and information such as membership, is published on the GOV.UK website at www.gov.uk/government/organisations/advisory-committee-on-releases-to-the-environment

ACRE is sponsored by the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (Defra) and is an advisory non-departmental public body. ACRE’s main function is to provide statutory advice to the UK government, and Devolved Administrations of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. ACRE advises 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 bio-control agents, and which are not native to Great Britain.

There are a number of points to which I would like to draw your attention. In 2018, ACRE issued advice on nine GM products for commercial import and, or, processing; assessed three applications for GM trials for research purposes; advised on one application to release a non-native species as a bio-control agent; assessed two EU applications for marketing GM medicinal products; and held one full committee meeting. Openness and transparency are important, and I am keen that ACRE continues to be so not only by publishing its advice, but also continuing to hold its meetings in public.

Rosemary Collier, Simon Kerr and Matt Heard all chose to step down as members of ACRE during 2018. Their individual expertise, and their advice and commitment to ACRE in the six years that each served as members is gratefully appreciated, and I wish them well in their future pursuits. I would also like to thank current members of ACRE for their continuing dedication, and the assessors, and the secretariat for their efforts in supporting the work of the Committee.

I anticipate that this will be my last annual report as Chair of ACRE, as I plan to step down at the end of my current term in August 2019. I would like to take this opportunity to thank all past and present members of the committee who have worked with me, the secretariat, observers and officials, in making this role such an interesting and well supported one.

Rosie Hails, 2019.

2. Main activities

2.1 Meetings

ACRE held one regular committee meeting in March 2018. As part of ACRE’s commitment to openness and transparency the meeting was open to the public to attend as observers. Minutes of that meeting were published at: www.gov.uk/government/organisations/advisory-committee-on-releases-to-the-environment/about/our-governance#meetings

2.2 Casework

Applications for GM releases for research purposes

ACRE has assessed three 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 trial
• Clinical trial of GM Salmonella typhi
• Clinical trial of Streptococcus pneumoniae

Food and feed marketing applications

ACRE also considered nine opinions issued by EFSA, the European Food Safety Authority, on notifications for placing GM cotton, maize, and soybean. The applications were for import or processing, and not cultivation. In each of the cases considered, ACRE was satisfied that the genetically modified 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 on the environmental risk assessment aspects of marketing applications for two 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.

3. Other advisory duties

A sub-group of ACRE met to discuss an application made to Defra to release a herbivorous mite, Aculus Sp, Nov. into the wider environment for the control of the invasive weed, Crassula Helmsii. Aculus Sp. Nov., is not native to the UK, 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. Overall, ACRE’s opinion was positive with respect to the application.

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 genetically modified organisms. 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