My Lords, in one of the earlier debates the Minister sought to categorise some of us as people who are fundamentally opposed to the Bill and trying to find any way we can to derail it. I assure him that I am not in that camp, and I hope that the amendment I will speak to will give some illustration of that.
I will speak to Amendment 88 in my name, which is a very particular amendment about the status of GMOs; this seems a very odd group of amendments that have been put together. It follows on slightly from the comments just made by my noble friend Lord Winston because it recognises that it has been many years since the regulations relating to GMOs have been reviewed. As a result, we appear to be legislating in silos rather than looking at the impact of genetic technology as a whole. We already have the GMO legislation on the statute and now we are looking at GE, but how do those two bits of legislation interrelate?
When the Government announced their plans to roll out gene editing, they also committed to a review of the wider GMO rules, but so far there does not seem to be any sign that the review is taking place—unless I have missed it. Amendment 88 probes whether the impact of Clause 41, which amends the Environmental Protection Act 1990 to exclude precision-bred organisms and differentiates them from GMOs, is likely to require further review.
This is all about the interrelation between genetic engineering and GMOs. Where is that review taking place? Is the wording of the legislation as it stands in Clause 41 how we want it to be? When and how will that wider review of GMOs take place? How will the Minister synchronise any result of that with the provisions of the Bill? It seems rather odd that scientific institutions could be potentially following two different routes for technology that in many ways is very similar.
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I have a great deal of sympathy with the amendments in the names of the noble Baronesses, Lady Bakewell and Lady Bennett. It is important that we take heed of developments in Europe relating to its GMO legislation.
It is highly desirable to have a shared definition of precision breeding, because this would strengthen both our research collaboration and trade opportunities with our friends in Europe. I hope that the Minister can say something more constructive about these relationships.
I support Amendment 89 in the name of my noble friend Lady Hayman. It echoes some of the arguments that I supported in the previous debate, and postpones the implementation of the animal clauses until a full set of proposals with proper scrutiny can take place. I hope that the Minister can respond positively.