In an official Communication due to be published today, the Commission attacks some member states and regions that have adopted or drafted legislation that, it claims, is "overly restrictive" for GMO-growers. The Commission says it will take "necessary steps to ensure that Community legislation is respected".
Eric Gall of Greenpeace European Unit said: "The Commission has approved every GMO that the industry has passed its way, and is now trying to bully with threats of legal action against any country or region that wants to defend the right of farmers and consumers not to plant GMOs or eat genetically modified food."
According to the Commission, by the end of 2005, 20 draft national and regional laws against GMO contamination had been notified to Brussels. The Commission reveals that it has objected to half the draft laws to date, denouncing provisions such as:
- the proposal to prohibit or restrict GM crop cultivation in protected or ecologically sensitive regions;
- the requirement that GM crop growers obtain insurance so as to compensate organic and conventional farmers for losses caused by GM contamination;
- bans on the growing of GM crops due to concerns about contamination of GMO-free agriculture, public health risks and damage to the environment.
In the last two years, the European Commission has repeatedly authorised new GMOs against the will of most EU member states, thanks to the EU's technical procedure for decision-making: 'comitology'. At the same time, it has denied the claims of over 170 European regions which have declared their opposition to the cultivation of GM crops on their territory.
Eric Gall continued: "People have a right to GM-free food; farmers have a right to grow GM-free crops; and regions or countries have the right to protect their land, citizens and farmers from potentially dangerous and irreversible GMO contamination. The EU Commission has been using an undemocratic procedure to force GMOs onto a public that rejects them and onto governments that have regularly voted against them. The Commission is getting further from the people day by day."
A conference on coexistence will take place on 4-6 April in Vienna, organised by the European Commission. Farmers, GMO-free regions and NGOs including Greenpeace will join a "March of the GMO-free regions" outside the venue.
Other contacts:
Eric Gall, EU policy director on Genetic Engineering, Greenpeace European Unit, tel +32 (0)2 274 1906 or +32 (0)496 161 582 (FR, EN)
Geert Ritsema, Genetic Engineering campaigner, Greenpeace International, +31 646 197 328 (NL, EN, DE)
Notes:
1. The Commission’s Communication is available at the following link: http://eu.greenpeace.org/downloads/gmo/CoexCommunication0603.pdf
2. The legal basis for national and regional rules is Article 26a of the European Directive on GMOs, 2001/18, which says that Member States may take
measures to avoid the unintended presence of GMOs in other products.
3. GMO-free regions are listed at the website http://www.gmofree-europe.org