Biotech Values

[DewDiligence]

Denmark Seeks Settlement of Biotech-Seed Impasse

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/02/02/eu-gmo-cultivation-idUSL5E8D26FA20120202

›Thu Feb 2, 2012 12:29pm EST
By Charlie Dunmore

BRUSSELS, Feb 2 (Reuters) – Biotech companies should be allowed to grow genetically modified (GM) crops in some EU countries if they agree to avoid sales into the countries that want to ban them, a draft compromise proposal drawn up by Danish EU diplomats shows.

The compromise is designed to break a deadlock in talks among member states on draft EU rules to allow them to decide individually whether or not to ban GM cultivation - a proposal by the European Commission in 2010 that has made little headway so far.

"We are working on it. There is a blocking minority on the GMO proposals, and we are trying to do our utmost to find a solution and get agreement among member states," said a spokesman for the Danish EU presidency who declined to comment on the details of the compromise.

Under the plan, companies seeking EU approval to cultivate a GM crop would agree in advance not to market the product in those countries that do not want to grow it and in return would gain authorisation to grow the crops elsewhere in Europe, the draft seen by Reuters showed.

"Any decision (to ban cultivation) shall be communicated to the notifier, with the aim of reaching an agreement on the grounds upon which the concerned member state has based its decision," it said.

One EU biotech industry source said companies had yet to agree on a joint position regarding the proposal but that any progress towards approving new GM crops for cultivation in Europe was welcome.

"This is probably the last serious attempt to unblock the negotiations on the cultivation proposal," said the source, who declined to be identified.

In January, German biotech firm BASF Plant Science said that it was moving its plant biotech research activities from Germany to the United States and would cease all work to develop GM crops specifically for the EU market [#msg-70944800].

NATIONAL OPPOSITION

It is unclear whether the Danish compromise will be enough to overcome opposition to the Commission proposal from countries including France, which has said it wants to tighten the EU's risk assessment of GM crops before discussing the plans.

Other countries including Spain and Germany have raised concerns that the proposal would fragment the EU's single market by banning farmers in some EU countries from growing GM crops, while allowing others to press ahead.

Britain, meanwhile, is unlikely to support part of the Danish compromise that would allow countries to ban cultivation on environmental grounds, for example to prevent the emergence of herbicide-resistant weeds - a move backed by EU lawmakers.

The Commission proposed allowing national cultivation bans in July 2010 in a bid to break a deadlock in EU GM crop approvals, with just two varieties approved for cultivation in more than 12 years.

To date, seven EU countries have introduced national "safeguard" bans on growing Monsanto's MON 810 insect-resistant maize: France, Germany, Austria, Greece, Hungary, Luxembourg and Bulgaria.

A Commission source told Reuters that there were "some interesting elements in the Danish proposal", and that EU governments would hold further talks on the draft GM cultivation rules ahead of a scheduled debate by EU environment ministers on March 9.‹