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The British government and life-science companies have agreed a temporary moratorium on the commercialization of genetically modified crops, pending research into their ecological effects.

The moratorium is part of a comprehensive package of measures announced last week that are designed to allay public fears about genetic modification in agriculture.

Under the measures, herbicide-tolerant crops will be withheld from the market for at least a year, and insect-resistant crops for three years, while research is carried out into their impact on biodiversity, for example.

A steering group of scientists will be asked to identify relevant research questions and to plan experiments to answer them. Industry is expected to contribute to the costs of the experiments, which will be monitored by independent experts. Many of the experimental trials will be on a commercial scale.

The government's conservation advisory body, English Nature, will help to set the agenda, and non-governmental organizations will be encouraged to play a “constructive role”, says a government spokesman.

Michael Meacher, the environment minister, said last week that the government is “right to be cautious” and will “make sure that for every product we have practical evidence on safety before we can take a decision to move to commercialization”.

The measures include a review of the use and ecological effects of herbicides and pesticides on genetically modified crops. Companies wanting to grow commercial-scale genetically modified crops must show that there are no adverse ecological effects.

The government wants this requirement to be included in the directive governing the commercial release of genetically modified crops in all other European Union states.

It also plans to set up an ‘environmental stakeholders forum', which will allow those with an interest in genetically modified products to have their views taken into account when decisions are made.

The forum is a response to calls for greater public representation on the government's scientific Advisory Committee on Releases to the Environment, which advises the government on whether or not a genetically modified crop is safe to grow. While this committee will remain science-based, it will consider the forum's views when making recommendations to government.

The government is also to set up a ministerial committee on biotechnology, which will comprise junior ministers from ten government departments.

A government spokesman says that the committee's first tasks will be to set up the forum, and to review the complicated regulatory structure governing the transfer of genetically modified organisms from the laboratory to the supermarket. One option is a proposal from the Royal Society to set up a single body to oversee the work of the different regulatory advisory committees (see Nature 395, 5; 1998).

The measures have had a mixed response from critics of the government's previous approach to genetically modified crops. These critics, which include environmentalist groups, organic farmers and even English Nature, had opposed the commercial-scale planting of such crops while questions about their ecological impact remain unanswered.

English Nature considers the government's decision to be “wise”. Brian Johnson, the body's adviser on genetically modified organisms, says it is good news that industry must demonstrate that genetically modified crops have no adverse ecological impact.

Conservation agencies, he says, have been concerned for a while that the use of genetically modified herbicide-tolerant and insect-resistant crops could greatly reduce weeds and insects on farmland, threatening the survival of several species of farmland birds.

“At the moment, a company is asked simply to state, ‘yes’ or ’no’, whether its genetically modified crop will affect other organisms,” says Johnson. He says companies invariably answer ‘no’ even though there is no proof.

Most environmentalist groups remain critical of the measures, which are unlikely to stop protesters digging up field trials of genetically modified crops (see Nature 394, 608; 1998). Far from limiting genetically modified crops, they say the government's decision to insist on commercial-scale experimental trials amounts to even greater release of a product that most consider to be an environmental pollutant.