Dalli ends EU stalemate on GM foods amid chorus of disapproval

The European Commissioner responsible for health and consumer policy John Dalli, is proposing to EU member states the freedom to allow, restrict or ban the cultivation of Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) on part or all of their territory.

The Commission said that while keeping unchanged the EU’s ‘science-based GM authorisation system’, the new recommendation allowed member states to “take into account their local, regional and national conditions when adopting co-existence measures.”

At present, EU member states are only able to restrict GM crop cultivation under strict conditions as authorisation licences are valid across the 27-country bloc, in accordance with the principles of the EU’s single market. Several member states have repeatedly invoked an EU safeguard clause enabling them to suspend the marketing or growth on their territory of GM crops that enjoy EU-wide authorisation, but the European Commission has never substantiated their applications and has always ordered the lifting of national bans.

The proposed new legal clause allows member states to prohibit cultivation provided that the reasons are not related to GMOs’ adverse effects on health and their environment, or to their socio-economic impact.

But under the proposed deal, the GMO approval process would speed up, leading to environmental NGOs Friends of the Earth and Greenpeace arguing that restrictions would limit the set of admissible grounds for bans mainly to ethical concerns.

According to them, national decisions based on ethical grounds are likely to be subject to legal challenges brought by crop companies due to the difficulty of defining “objective” criteria in the field of ethics, they stress.

NGOs also note that while the Commission proposals address the banning of GM crops by national governments, there is nothing to protect conventional and organic farmers in countries that decide to allow them.

“Last March, the Commission promised to present a comprehensive proposal on our future policy vis-à-vis GM cultivation by the end of the summer. Today we deliver on that promise. The concrete measures adopted today will allow Member States the freedom to decide on GMO cultivation,” John Dalli said.

“Experience with GMOs so far shows that Member States need more flexibility to organise the co-existence of GM and other types of crops such as conventional and organic crops… Granting genuine freedom on grounds other than those based on a scientific assessment of health and environmental risks also necessitates a change to the current legislation. I stress that, the EU-wide authorisation system, based on solid science, remains fully in place.”

According to Dalli, this will lead to a “very thorough safety assessment and a reinforced monitoring system” in GMO cultivation.

As of today, the more flexible approach towards GMOs cultivation will include the retention of the strict authorisation system based on science, safety and consumer choice.

“The new approach aims to achieve the right balance between maintaining an EU authorisation system and the freedom for member states to decide on GMO cultivation in their territory,” the Commission said.

The recommendation also clarifies that EU countries can establish “GMO-free” areas.

AD reaction
Alternattiva Demokratika, the Green Party, expressed its disapproval of Dalli’s decision to allow EU member states to decide on GMO cultivations on their territories.

Arnold Cassola, AD spokesperson on EU and International Affairs, stated: “It is so ironic that whilst the European Commission is continuously harping on the need for Europe to act and speak with one voice, Commissioner Dalli is giving full freedom to each individual country to act as it wishes with regards to GMOs.  National egoisms and the interests of particular business lobbies have been privileged vis à vis the interests of consumers and their health which, ironically, Comissioner Dalli is supposed to defend.”

AD chairperson Michael Briguglio said Dalli had thrown the precautionary principle to the wind. “The European consumer’s health concerns have been put aside, despite the fact that scientific evidence has not yet been able to guarantee that GMOs are safe for human consumption. The authorisation of GMO cultivations will result in an irreversible process of GMO contamination of fields. Farmers will by necessity become dependent on big-business GMO companies for crops and pesticides.”

Organic farmers' reaction
“President Barroso has always shown himself to be in favour of faster GMO approvals – despite the fact that the majority of EU citizens reject GMOs on their plates and on their farms, so they clearly reject GMO releases into the environment”, said John Portelli, the Maltese board member of the International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements (EU).

“With these proposals, Dalli has served Barroso’s wish to ‘break the deadlock’ over GMOs. We are in favour of strengthening the right of member states to stay GMO free, but not at the expense of more GMO approvals and not with complete disregard of cross-border contamination problems.”

France said today that it disagreed with proposals by Dalli to open the EU market to GMO cultivation by allowing member states to decide individually on the issue. French Agriculture Minister Bruno Le Maire said that his country has strong reservations about the proposal on breaking the deadlock on authorising GMOs.

IFOAM’s Spanish board member said many farmers in Spain had to give up growing maize as they could not deliver the GMO free quality anymore, Victor Gonzalvez said. “Huge economic damage has been reported throughout the food chain related to GMO contamination2, but also related to the prevention of contamination, which still has to be paid by those who want to remain GMO-free.”