July 8, 2011

 

Biotech group speaks out against EU's GM crop ban vote

 

 

The European Parliament's vote to give member states the right to ban the cultivation of genetically modified crops on environmental grounds will undermine science-based policy making in Europe, according to the biotech industry group EuropaBio.

 

The result will be to allow member states to opt-out of a product approval system simply because of political preference, without any scientific reasoning, said Carel du Marchie Sarvaas, EuropaBio's Director of Green Biotechnology.

 

"The debate reveals very clearly how politicised science has become in European policy making," said du Marchie Sarvaas, adding that there is a risk of creating a precedent that would allow other sectors and other countries to use non-scientific reasons to ban products, despite a positive safety assessment.

 

The amendment approved by the European Parliament on Tuesday (Jul 5) would allow a GM crop to be banned on environmental grounds, even if it had passed EU-level safety assessments.

 

It also threatens to undermine the single market by allowing a proliferation of different national or regional restrictions and conditions, according to EuropaBio.

 

EuropaBio recognised that Europe needs some route around the long-running impasse over GM crops, and supports the European Commission's proposal, set out on July 13 2010, to devolve decisions on their planting to member states.

 

Under the proposal, which came before the European Parliament for a first reading this week, national governments would make that decision once a product has received EU-level safety and environmental approval.

 

A member state could then ban a GM crop, but only on ethical, moral, or socio-economic grounds.

 

A recent study found that EU farmers are foregoing an additional EUR440-930 million (US$632-1,335 million) each year by not being able to choose and plant currently available GM crops, according to EuropaBio.

 

"As they contemplate the future challenges of globalisation, climate change, food insecurity and shortages of natural resources, many decision-makers continue to deny farmers the ability to use cutting edge technologies, already available to their counterparts outside the EU, to help them to deal with these same challenges," said du Marchie Sarvaas.

 

The proposal to nationalise decisions on GM crops is yet to be considered by ministers in the European Council.

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