Biotech Values

[DewDiligence]

EU Proposal Gives Member Countries Increased Latitude on GMO’s

[The proposal is double-edged for ag biotech companies such as MON, but is positive on balance, IMO, for the reason set forth in the text bewlo highlighted in red.]

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704518904575364700243251906.html

›JULY 14, 2010
By DAVID TIDMARSH and ALESSANDRO TORELLO

BRUSSELS—European Union countries should have the power to restrict or ban cultivation of genetically modified crops, the European Commission proposed Tuesday, in an effort to speed up the biotech approval process and solve a long-standing controversy among countries.

"Experience with GMOs so far shows that member states need more flexibility to organize the coexistence of genetically modified and other types of crops," said Health and Consumer Policy Commissioner John Dalli in a statement.

The proposal from the commission, the EU's executive arm, would give EU member states the power to restrict or ban genetically modified crops, even after an EU approval procedure based on health and environment risk assessment has given a green light, the commission said.

Currently, the EU authorizes GMOs on a case-by-case basis. But a decade-long opposition by some member countries—who have to back the authorization by a super majority—has been slowing approvals, with decisions ultimately falling on the commission because of continued disagreements in national governments.

Tuesday's proposal should ease the authorization process because countries opposed to GMO crop cultivation won't have an interest in blocking the EU approval process any more, as they will have the ultimate power to restrict these plants in their own territory.

A bloc of countries, led by Greece, France, Austria and Hungary, have long opposed allowing the cultivation of GMO plants or even their importation into the EU, while other countries such as the U.K. and the Netherlands have favored their use.

One biotech crop, an anti-pest strain of maize developed by Monsanto Co., is already cultivated on EU soil, and 30 other GMOs have been approved for import in food and animal-feed usage. The EU has also approved a starch potato, called Amflora and developed by Germany's BASF SE [#msg-48575063]. Yet six EU member states—Austria, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, and Luxembourg—have already prohibited growing the Monsanto maize in their territory and taken safeguard measures against other GMOs.

In a rare case of similar views, industry and environmentalists expressed concerns that the commission proposal will effectively improve the situation--for opposite reasons.

"These proposals appear to give carte blanche to ban safe and approved GM crops in any country or region regardless of the needs or wishes of their farmers," said in a statement Carel du Marchie Sarvaas, director for agricultural biotechnology at EuropaBio, the association which represents dozens of biotech and chemical companies, including BASF and Monsanto.

At the same time, environmental organizations such as Friends of the Earth Europe and Greenpeace are worried that the new proposal will pave the way for more biotech crops in Europe, with crop contamination still spreading over the borders.

Farmers have concerns as well. The proposal might end up "jeopardizing the internal market for approved products and increasing distortions of competition among EU farmers," said Copa-Cogeca, the association representing EU farmers, in a statement.

The proposed new rules will now have to get a green light from the EU Parliament and a large majority of member countries to become law.‹