the Polish government suffered another setback in its ongoing effort to comply with European Union law regulating the use of genetically modified organisms, commonly referred to as GMOs, when President Bronisław Komo-rowski vetoed the most recent legislation restricting the use of GMOs in Polish agriculture.
Four years earlier the European Commission had declared Poland’s draft law restricting the use of GMOs to be in contravention of EU law. Since that time Poland has found itself at loggerheads with the EU Commission over the use of GMOs. This most recent setback could not have come at a worse time, as Poland faces a new trial in the European Court of Justice over its ban on the use of GMOs and the potential loss of millions of euro in EU funding.
What’s the problem?
Currently Poland puts severe restrictions - in fact representing a de facto ban - on the use of GMOs in Polish agriculture, as well as the sale of food products that contain GMOs to Polish consumers. The draft law vetoed by President Komorowski would have permitted the limited use of GMOs in Poland; however, it still banned the use of GMOs in animal feed, which presumably includes corn. The EU, on the other hand, regulates the use of GMOs, but does not impose an outright ban.
EU regulation
The use of GMOs in the EU is regulated by Regulation (EC) 1829/2003, which I will simply refer to as the GMO Law. The GMO Law sets forth an approval process by which a manufacturer can seek approval to introduce a GMO to the European market.
The approval process contains several stages, beginning with a risk assessment by the European Food Safety Authority. Depending on the results of the risk assessment, the Commission will issue a decision to approve or reject. Approval by the Commission at this stage, however, simply means that the GMO application is then submitted to the Standing Committee on the Food Chain and Animal Health for further review. If the Committee issues a positive opinion, the commission will then grant its final approval. If the committee’s decision is negative, the application is then referred to the Council of Ministers for review. The Council of Ministers’ decision will be the final one. If the Council, however, is unable to reach a decision, the matter is referred back to the Commission for final resolution. Once approved for use in the food chain, a GMO must be clearly labeled as such to enable a consumer to make an informed choice, unless it is deemed to be an “accidental” GMO.
Accidental GMO crops
Crops and other food items that are accidentally contaminated by a GMO do not have to be labeled as such. By “accidentally contaminated” I mean that the farmer did not intentionally use GMO technology to produce the food item.
This exception to the rule, however, has recently come under attack. On September 6, 2011, the European Court of Justice ruled that honey containing trace amounts of a GMO from pollen must first be approved for use as a GMO using the EU’s authorization process. In this particular case, beehives were located within 500 meters of a corn field using GMO technology. The contamination was accidental, but nevertheless the Court ruled that the honey must first be approved as a GMO.
GMO crops
To date the EU has approved the use of GMOs in corn, cotton, rapeseed oil, soybeans and potatoes. Most of the GMO permits have been sought and issued to a limited number of agro-science companies, including Monsanto, Bayer, Syngenta and Pioneer.
Politics
With elections fast approaching, it is unlikely that the Polish parliament will be able to revise the draft law to the extent necessary to prevent another presidential veto. Final resolution will need to wait till after the autumn elections.
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