May 2, 2006

 

Poland bans sale of biotech seeds
 

 

The Polish Parliament has approved legislation banning the sale and registration of biotech seeds, according to a US Department of Agriculture attache report posted Monday (may 1) on the Foreign Agricultural Services website.

 

The Polish Parliament approved legislation banning the sale and registration of biotech seeds in Poland last week. However, the legislation does not ban the planting of biotech seed varieties registered in the EU seed catalogue and purchased outside Poland.

 

Still, future legislation is likely to do so. The new legislation is the result of changes made by Parliament to draft legislation submitted by the Ministry of Agriculture that would have brought Polish regulations into compliance with EU biotech regulations.

 

Ironically, the new legislation will likely violate EU regulations.

 

The ban was first proposed in the Sejm (lower house of Parliament) and was later approved and sent to the Senate for consideration, despite a ruling by the European Integration Committee Office that the ban would violate EU regulations.

 

U/S Chrapek, Senate Agriculture Committee Chairman Chroscikowski and one other senator supported the ban.

 

The remaining senators were opposed, arguing that biotech products were as safe as traditional or organic products and that the ban would be a step back for Polish scientific research.

 

During this meeting, Senator Chroscikowski that it was obviously in American companies' best interest that such seeds were introduced into Poland since high-level US officials had raised the issue several times during visits.

 

The opinion of the Senate's legal office that the legislation would violate EU regulations raised some concerns, but not enough to prevent Senate approval.

 

A public appeal to defeat the ban by several leading Polish scientists reportedly generated some late concern, but not enough to prevent final passage.

 

This will be the fifth time the Polish government has implemented legislation that violates EU regulations.

 

Polish farmers are currently not planting biotech seeds, primarily because of government opposition to biotechnology and the lack of economically advantageous varieties.

 

While the new legislation will not ban planting biotech varieties, it could dissuade farmers from doing so.

 

The USDA believes that many local farmers would use biotech seeds, if economically advantageous varieties were available.

 

According to analysts, several Bt corn varieties of potential interest to Polish farmers have recently become available.

 

Finally, it is as yet unclear how government officials would enforce the new legislation.