A proposal by the European Commission that would provide greater flexibility to member states concerning cultivation of genetically modified (GM) crops is being met with increased opposition and facing accusations over its legality.
A recent EU Council report challenged the Commission’s proposal and further fuelled environmentalists and EU Ministers who have been opposed to such legislation (see Bridges Trade BioRes, 11 October 2010).
The Council’s legal service presented a report to member states last week claiming that a GM policy shift granting individual states greater freedom regarding genetically modified organisms (GMOs) would undermine EU and WTO trade laws. The report concluded that Commissioner John Dalli’s call for a looser GM policy could subject member states to possible litigation by EU or WTO courts, despite the Commission’s claim that the proposed legislation is in accordance with EU law.
“This is a sensitive and embarrassing blow for the EU Commission’s proposal,” said Thijs Etty, who specialises in GM research at the Institute of Environmental Studies (IVM) at the VU University Amsterdam. “Both EU Courts and the WTO have been in the past very restrictive in accepting such arguments, unless countries can provide extensive and consistent evidence to justify their trade restrictions,” he said in a leaked report.
Some member states and environmentalists fear the Commission’s recent push towards more liberal GM policies will open the floodgates for new genetically modified crops in the EU, ending “Europe’s unique position as the world’s largest GMO-free zone,” Etty said.
Additionally, the Commission plans to adopt a measure that would allow up to 0.1 percent of unapproved GM crops to be imported into the EU for animal feed. Some countries have called for the Commission to allow the unapproved GM crops to be permitted for human consumption as well, pointing out that it would be nearly impossible to distinguish the world’s crop supplies between food and feed.
Amid these concerns, the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) released new guidelines last Friday on the environmental risk assessment (ERA) of genetically modified organisms. EFSA’s new guidelines provide a more comprehensive evaluation of the long-term and environmental effects of GMOs. The update by the EFSA comes in response to EU governments’ call for stronger EFSA assessment procedures of GMOs, particularly by France, which has been highly critical of GMOs and even refused to take part in discussions about the commission’s policy proposal until stricter GMO guidelines were put in place.
The new guidelines call for a more thorough step-by-step assessment approach for gauging the environmental risks of GMOs. The EFSA addressed seven specific areas of concern in the document including the “persistence and invasiveness of the GM plant” and the effects on human and animal health. They also call for Biotech companies who wish to propose GMOs for consideration to closely account for “intended and unintended effects,” whether the crop is grown for human or animal consumption. Thus far, the ESFA has only approved one variety of corn produced by Monsanto and a strain of potato to be grown only for industrial use.
The Commission plans to release a report on the costs and benefits of GM crops in December. A decision on whether to loosen the EU’s zero tolerance policy on GM crop imports is not expected until after January.
More information
The EFSA guidelines on GMOs can be accessed on the EFSA
website.
ICTSD Reporting. “EU Urged To Allow Trace GM In Food Imports: Source,” REUTERS, 16 November 2010; “EU Looks To Tighten GM Crop Assessment Rules,” REUTERS, 15 November 2010; “EU Council Legal Service report confirms academic’s criticism of legally flawed Commission proposal to renationalize GMO-crop cultivation,” IVM-VU PRESS RELEASE, 11 November 2010.
Copyright ICTSD
