Thursday November 9, 12:56 pm Eastern Time

Britain's plan to list GM maize seed set for delay

By Elizabeth Piper

LONDON, Nov 9 (Reuters) - Britain's plans to register gene-modified
maize were headed for further delay on Thursday when the government
asked for an adjournment of a public hearing on the GM seed's inclusion
on the National Seed List.

The farm ministry said officials needed to look into queries about
earlier tests on the maize -- Aventis's herbicide tolerant Chardon LL -- and
asked the barrister conducting the hearing to adjourn it until a later date.

``I have been requested by the minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and
Food...to give consideration to adjourning the hearing until...the full 
implications of the situation for the status of the Chardon LL hearing 
can be definitively established,'' barrister Alun Alesbury said in a statement.

``My preliminary view is that in the circumstances which have arisen an
adjournment would be appropriate.''

A sitting was scheduled in the northern city of Manchester on November
15 to decide whether to adjourn the hearing -- the results of which have 
forced the ministry to reassess earlier testing of the maize.

The ministry said earlier it had found that data from French trials were
based on one year's data from accredited breeders and one year's data 
from government run trials.

This fell short of the relevant European Union directive affecting seed
approval which requires two years worth of official trials.

``Other member states in the EU also rely on French data and the views
of the commission on the status of the French procedures are being 
sought,'' the ministry said on Thursday.

``The UK authorities wish to take account of these views before taking a
decision on how this affects the Chardon LL hearing.''

A delay in the hearings would be another blow for the government, which
wants the seeds to registered and has sought to reassure an increasingly 
sceptical public over the safety of genetically modified foods.

The hearing, which began early last month and allows opponents to air
their views, was forced by environmental group Friends of the Earth after 
it logged 67 objections to the listing of the GM seeds from other interested 
parties.

Opponents have long argued that the variety of maize had not been
properly tested and that allowing genetically modified crops to be 
commercially grown will lead to contamination of non-GM crops.