Greece to call for GM ban

Date: 17/06/1999

By Simon Coss

GREECE will next week call on its EU partners to introduce a temporary ban on all new varieties of genetically modified crops and seeds.

Athens has confirmed that Greek Deputy Environment Minister Theodoros Kaliopanos will formally make the request during a meeting with his EU counterparts next Thursday (24 June).

Koliapanos wrote to fellow ministers in May arguing that no new varieties of crops or seeds containing genetically modified organisms (GMOs) should be cleared for Union-wide sale until the 1990 directive (90/220) which sets out the approval procedures for GM products had been revised. Greek officials say he will follow up on this by asking his EU counterparts to sign up to a declaration next week.

Athens argues that recent scientific reports on the possible environmental dangers of GMOs justify the move. In May, US scientists found that certain varieties of insect-resistant GM maize could kill butterflies and earlier this month, the European Commission's top scientific committee called for antibiotic 'marker' genes to be banned from gene-altered products. They said these could eventually make people immune to some of the Union's most commonly used medicines.

News of Greece's initiative has delighted environmental campaigners. "It is definitely a step in the right direction," said Greenpeace GMO expert Thomas Schweiger.

But the biotechnology industry insists the move is totally unjustified. "I do not see any reason at all why a country should come forward with such a proposal," said Anthony Arke of industry lobby EuropaBio.

He pointed out that the current version of 90/220 remained in force across the EU, giving companies the right to seek approval for new GM products whenever they wanted to. Consequently, he claimed, a blanket ban would be illegal.

Acting Environment Commissioner Ritt Bjerregaard believes there is no legal basis for introducing an EU-wide moratorium on GMOs. But the Greeks argue that it would be justified under EU environmental protection rules.

Whatever the response from member states to Athens' initiative at next week's meeting, most diplomats expect a political agreement on Bjerregaard's 1997 proposals for updating the GMO law.

Certain details have still to be thrashed out, including the question of how often companies would have to renew their licences for new GM crops and whether a licence could be automatically renewed if no objections were raised about its safety.

The German presidency will also try to convince EU governments to agree to the principle of setting up an independent agency to handle GMO approvals at "some point in the future".

If ministers do reach political agreement on the proposal next week, it will then be passed on to the new European Parliament for scrunity.