>
> Press release from the Swedish Board of Agriculture 24 May 2000
>
> The Swedish Board of Agriculture has decided that the crops with
> genetically modified oil seed rape shall be destroyed.
>
> The Swedish Board of Agriculture today came to a decision on an
> injunction to the farmers that this year has sown seed from the lots of
> the oil seed rape variety Hyola 38, that has an impurity of Roundup
> resistant rape seed.
>
> The decision means that the crops must be destroyed by 7 July at the
> latest, unless a possible consent for a deliberate release has been
> given by the Board of Agriculture before that date.
>
> The Swedish Board of Agriculture bases its decision on Chapter 13
> section 12 in The Environmental Code (SFS 1998:808), which states that a
> consent shall be obtained for the deliberate release of genetically
> modified organisms (GMOs) or the placing on the market of products
> containing or consisting of such organisms. According to the opinion of
> the Board of Agriculture, this means that even if the release was
> unintentional when the oil seed rape was sown, the grower is obliged to
> destroy the crop before the seeds have matured.
>
> The Board of Agriculture has opened for a possibility for farmers that
> for some reason don't want to destroy the crop, to apply for a consent.
> Consents may possibly be given to trials. With this opening, the Board
> of Agriculture takes into consideration the points that were given by
> the consultative body, the Gene Technology Advisory Board in their statement.
>
> The decision means that the farmer is allowed to keep the oil seed rape
> crop until flowering. The reason behind the chosen time, is that this
> genetically modified oil seed rape is male sterile, and therefore only
> produces insignificant quantities of pollen. In this way, the farmer can
> get the area payment and keep his planned crop rotation. To wait with
> the destruction of the crop until flowering also means reduced risks for
> leakage of nutrients from the fields.
>
> - The Swedish Board of Agriculture has received a wide support for the
> decision we have made, from the authorities and organisations that have
> been consulted in this case. Our decision means that we fully pay regard
> to the environmental aspects while we at the same time don't cause the
> affected farmers unnecessary difficulties. So says the Director General
> of the Board of Agriculture, Ms Ingbritt Irhammar, and continues:
>
> - The security measures for trials with genetically modified plants are
> rigorous. For that reason it's important that we don't compromise with
> the security requirements in this case. As I have stated earlier, we
> must be able to trust that something that is stated as "GMO free" really
> is just that, it's a matter of uprightness.
>
> More information is available at the website of the Swedish Board of
> Agriculture, www.sjv.se.
>
> Contacts
>
> Ingbritt Irhammar, General Director, tel. +4670 595 93 50
> Carl Johan Lidén, Head of the Department for Crop Production and
> Environment, tel +4636 15 50 30, +4670 543 78 11
> Gabriella Cahlin, Head of the Crop Production Division, tel +4636 15 56 83
> Anna-Clara Sjöström, Crop Production Division (cultivation, legislation) tel
> +4636 15 51 58, +4670532 51 79
> Jennie Brundin, Crop Production Division (cultivation, legislation) tel
> +4636 15 56 87, +4670 54378 13
> Göran Öster, Legal Affairs Division (legislation) tel +4636 15 59 94