Biotech Updates

EU Parliament Paves Way for GMO Crop Bans

July 8, 2011

The European Union Parliament has recently approved the amended European Commission proposals that would allow member states to restrict or ban the cultivation on their territory of genetically modified (GM) crops which have already been given safety approval at the EU level. The approved proposal was amended to provide member states with ‘a solid legal basis' for banning GM crop cultivation and to give countries better legal protection in the event of challenges from trading partners opposed to the bans. These include: environmental grounds, socio-economic considerations, and grounds related to land use and agricultural practices.

Other items in the reported proposal include: to have improved risk assessment conducted at the EU level by EFSA and to take into consideration long term environmental effects as well as on non-target organisms before a new GMO variety can be authorized; and that member states ensure that contamination of conventional and organic farming be prevented and those responsible for any incident should be financially liable.

For details on this news see http://www.europarl.europa.eu/en/headlines/content/20110627FCS22686/8/html/GMOs-Parliament-backs-national-right-to-cultivation-bans. A related article can be seen at http://www.euractiv.com/en/cap/parliament-paves-way-gmo-crop-bans-news-506277