MEPs to demand tougher law on GMOs

Date: 16/03/2000

By Renée Cordes

THE European Parliament's environment committee will next week insist on the need for tough new measures to restrict trade in genetically modified crops, amid concerns that the European Commission's proposals do not go far enough.

Committee members are expected to support amendments next Thursday (23 March) designed to strengthen the proposed new rules to govern the procedure for deciding whether applications for licenses to sell new GM crops on Union markets should be approved.

They are also expected to renew calls for measures to ban GM crops which are resistant to antibiotics and guard against cross-breeding them with naturally occurring plants which may be resistant to herbicides or other potentially dangerous substances. "We are getting tougher on a number of issues. We want a much more regulated system of import and export control, " said UK Labour MEP David Bowe, the Parliament's rapporteur on the issue.

Bowe said he was confident that a compromise could be reached on the controversial issue of how often licenses should be reviewed where, unusually, the Parliament is taking a softer line than the Commission. The assembly is currently calling for licences to be re-examined every ten years, while the EU executive favours reviews every seven years.

But MEPs remain split over whether the revised version of the 90/220 directive should make producers liable for the safety of their products, with the centre-right European People's Party calling for the liability issue to be dealt with in a separate directive.

The move to beef up the EU's rules comes amid growing consumer concern over the safety of GM crops. The discussions are also taking place against the backdrop of a United Nations-sponsored deal brokered in Montreal in January on a biosafety protocol which will allow countries to use the precautionary principle when deciding whether to allow imports.

This means that they will be able to ban GM crops if they have any concerns whatsoever about the safety of a product, even if they do not have conclusive evidence that it is dangerous.

Environmental campaign group Friends of the Earth (FoE) has welcomed the Parliament's calls for a ban on antibiotic-resistant GM products, but argues steps should also be taken to ensure that crops already on the market are withdrawn. "We think it is high time to ban those products, independent of whether they are in the pipeline or whether they have already been approved," said FoE's Dan Leskien.

Campaigners are also pressing for the Union to agree the revised rules on GM licensing as quickly as possible, and insist that no new approvals should be granted in the meantime. They have welcomed a decision by national officials last week to delay a decision on applications for licences for three new GM crops until the summer, effectively extending the Union's de facto moratorium for another six months.

But industry group Europabio is urging policy-makers to take their time in finalising the new rules, insisting a delay would be better than an unworkable compromise.

The European Palriament's environment committee will insist on the need for tough new measures to restrict trade in genetically modified crops, amid concerns that the European Commission's proposals do not go far enough.