Member States refuse to Lift Illegal Bans on GM Products

28-Jun-2005

The EU Environment Council failed to lift the bans by 5 Member States on EU-approved GM products, despite conclusions by the EU's own scientific authorities that these products are safe:

Austria: Bayer CropScience T25 maize, Syngenta Bt176 maize, Monsanto MON810 maize

France: Bayer CropScience oilseed rape Topas 19/2, MS1xRF1

Germany: Syngenta Bt 176 maize

Greece: Bayer CropScience oilseed rape Topas 19/2

Luxembourg: Syngenta Bt 176 maize

The Member States voted by qualified majority against the Commission decisions to lift the bans in Austria, France, Greece Germany and Luxembourg. Although this vote does not impact any current commercial planting, it is the first time that the Council has voted to reject a European Commission proposal to remove safeguard measures on GM products and demonstrates that EU Member States have failed again to respect their own laws.

The EU Commission asked Member States to lift their bans on 5 EU-approved biotech crops. These bans were imposed using the safeguard clause of Directive 90/220 that permits such bans if there are real safety concerns, but that also requires that new scientific information be provided to support such bans. The Scientific Committees and the European Food Safety Authority have reviewed the justifications provided by the Member States and, in every case, have concluded that the bans are not justified.

"Today's vote is another failure of Member States to play by the rules that they themselves established. The EU's approval process for safe GMOs is arguably the strictest in the world and these bans are not scientifically justifiable," says Simon Barber, Director of the Plant Biotechnology Unit at EuropaBio - the European Association for Bioindustries. "It is unacceptable that some Member States continue to ignore overwhelming science as to the safety of these GM products and continue to undermine the EU regulatory approval process for safe GMOs. EuropaBio supports the Commission in its goals to ensure the proper functioning of the system and urges those Member States with unjustified bans on safe GMOs to drop these bans and signal to the rest of Europe their commitment to the European Union's laws."

https://www.bionity.com/en/news/47219/member-states-refuse-to-lift-illegal-bans-on-gm-products.html