GM crops directive will fail to protect farmers
GM crops directive will fail to protect farmers
By Isabel Davies
ENVIRONMENTALISTS are warning that farmers rather than biotechnology companies will be liable for any problems caused by genetically modified crops under proposals adopted this week by the European parliament.
After a two-day meeting in Strasbourg, MEPs backed a revised EU directive on GM crops which has been introduced to regain public trust in the approval process.
The proposals will tighten the licensing, labelling and monitoring of all GMs on the European market. They will also make it compulsory for members states to have a public register with details of the locations of all GM crops.
But although the commission had hoped that the new rules would mean an end to a three-year de facto moratorium on new approvals of new GM products, opposition from member states means that this will not be the case.
France, Denmark, Greece, Italy and Luxembourg have issued a joint declaration warning they will refuse to vote on any new approvals until issues of traceability, labelling and liability have been resolved. Greenpeace has estimated that this could hold up proceedings for another two years.
Adrian Bebb, GM campaigner for Friends of the Earth, said the new directive would be better than existing rules but would not protect European farmers, the environment or consumers.
"It doesnt go far enough. It eschews issues like liability and cross-pollination or gene pollution leaving farmers exposed," he said.
Cavalier approach
But he praised the stance of the five member states digging in their heels. "What a contrast it makes with the UK governments cavalier approach to proceed with large scale GM crop trials," he said.
Meanwhile, the UK government has admitted it should have handled better certain aspects of last years Advanta GM-contaminated rapeseed fiasco.
In reply to a report by the Agriculture Select Committee, ministers agreed that there were lessons to be learned from the incident.
Unauthorised impurity
In a memo to the committee, the government pointed out that this was the first time that an unauthorised GM impurity had been found in conventional seed in the UK and there were difficult legal and technical issues to be considered.
But NFU officials attending a meeting with junior farm minister Baroness Hayman on Tuesday stressed that MAFF had to move faster if the situation arose again.
Paul Ibbott, NFU chief arable adviser, pointed out there had been a five-week delay between MAFF finding out about the contaminated seed and farmers being informed.
"If MAFF had moved faster it would have been less disruptive," he said. *