Five states to defy lifting of GM food ban

By Anna McLauchlin

Date: 18/11/04

THE European Commission is set to clash with member states at a meeting on 29 November when it asks them to lift restrictions on genetically modified (GM) food.

Five member states - Austria, France, Germany, Greece and Luxembourg - have taken advantage of a 1990 EU law which allows them to restrict or ban the use of a GM product if there are "justifiable' reasons to believe it could put human health or the environment at risk.

Although the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) has claimed that the bans, which concern five types of GM oilseed rape and maize, are based on insufficient evidence, they have never been lifted.

Now the EU is coming under pressure because of a World Trade Organization (WTO) case filed by the US, Canada and Argentina in 2003. With the backing of 20 other countries, they are urging Europe to open its markets to GM products.

Under a law passed in 2001, member states either had to provide new evidence to keep the bans in place or withdraw them.

In 2003 the Commission demanded such evidence from the five member states, but only Greece and Austria submitted their research.

The EFSA rejected both sets of data. The three other states have yet to deliver their findings. Germany will make a presentation to the Commission at the meeting on 29 November, an official said, and France is still conducting studies into the risks posed by GMs.

"No member state has provided new evidence that these GM products are dangerous and so the bans have to be lifted somehow," said a Commission source.

The EU executive is expected to ask member states to vote on whether or not the five can keep their embargo in place, with a qualified majority needed for success. If there is no majority, environment ministers will be asked to vote at an upcoming Council.

But the member states are ready for battle. An official from Austria's agricultural ministry told European Voice: "We still think that we have some arguments against the cultivation of GM maize. We have to make further studies and wait until we have even more evidence but, until then, we will hold our position."

And a German official said: "We have scientific expertise we will present at the meeting and then we will see. But we are convinced that our doubts are realistic."

Greece is also expected to uphold its opposition. "The Greek government is and always has been entirely against GM food and we don't expect to change this position," said a Greek official. "But it is always difficult to know what will happen."

Adrian Bebb of Friends of the Earth said that the Commission was simply "caving into pressure" from the WTO. "The Commission should be standing up for these bans, recognizing that there are doubts surrounding the safety of GM food and investigating them," he said.

Officials at the meeting will also discuss whether or not to approve imports of a GM maize produced by US company Monsanto called MON 863. Since the six-year- long ban on approvals ended in June, the EU has approved 18 GMs for cultivation, import or use in animal feed or food.

Article reports on the resistance of five Member States against lifting restrictions on genetically modified (GM) food. Austria, France, Germany, Greece and Luxembourg took advantage of a 1990 EU law which allows them to restrict or ban the use of a GM product if there are 'justifiable' reasons to believe it could put human health or the environment at risk. Although the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) claims that the bans, which concern five types of GM oilseed rape and maize, are based on insufficient evidence, they have not been lifted.

European Commission: DG Health and Consumer Protection: Overview: Food and Feed Safety http://ec.europa.eu/comm/food/food/biotechnology/index_en.htm

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