Ministers back right to refuse GM crop cultivation

Attempts by the European Commission to force Austria and Hungary to allow the cultivation of genetically modified (GM) maize on their territory were rejected yet again by EU environment ministers yesterday (2 March).  

Environment ministers from the 27-member bloc found a qualified majority against a Commission proposal to force Hungary and Austria to repeal bans on growing genetically modified MON 810 maize, which is developed and marketed by US company Monsanto. 

The crop has been authorised for cultivation in the EU and received the backing of EFSA, the European Food Safety Authority. 

Twenty-two member states, representing 282 votes out of 345, voted against forcing the lifting of the bans. 

French Environment Minister Jean-Louis Borloo welcomed the vote, which he argued paves the way for a similar decision not to lift French and Greek national bans on MON 810 cultivation later this spring. The Council was asked to vote on the bans as the Commission’s GMO expert committee failed to reach agreement on lifting them last month (EURACTIV 17/02/09).

Meanwhile, the European bioindustry association EuropaBio expressed its “profound disappointment at member states’ failure to defend the GM authorisation procedure, science and Europe’s farmers”. EuropaBio’s Nathalie Moll referred to the vote as “a political side-step that goes against the wishes of Europe’s farmers, who are increasingly demanding the choice to grow biotech crops”.

Environment groups Greenpeace and Friends of the Earth Europe (FoEE) welcomed the vote, describing it as a “victory for the environment, farmers and consumers, and a major embarrassment for the Commission”. 

“For the fourth time, EU governments have rejected a Commission proposal to lift national bans on GM crops. What part of ‘no’ does the Commission not understand?,” asked Greenpeace EU GMO policy director Marco Contiero. His comments were echoed by FoEE’s Helen Holder, who urged the EU executive to “abandon its unpopular proposals once and for all and get down to the real work of improving GMO risk assessments in the EU, as ministers have requested”. 

Last December, EU environment ministers concluded that long-term environmental risk assessment of GMOs should be improved and member states allowed to establish GMO-free zones (EURACTIV 09/12/08). 

Furthermore, ministers decided to launch a reflection group to consider the socio-economic implications of placing GMOs on the market, including a cost-benefit analysis of the possible consequences of GMO seeds’ entry into the agricultural system as a whole. They also agreed on the need to determine Community thresholds for the presence of GMOs in conventional seeds.

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