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GM maize authorization must be rejected according to EP

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maizeThe European Parliament voted on 16 January in favour of a resolution initiated by the Greens calling on EU governments to reject a proposal by the European Commission to authorize the cultivation of a variety of GM maize in the EU for the first time in 15 years.

The Greens welcomed the outcome - health and food safety spokesman Bart Staes said:"The Parliament has today made its position very clear: there should be no new authorization of GM maize, as proposed by the Commission. This vote is a clear rebuke to the European Commission and gives a clear democratic mandate to EU governments to reject the proposed authorisation of this GM maize variety. The gung-ho approach by the Commission to this controversial and unpopular technology is simply not acceptable and EU governments in Council must now deliver a clear response and reject this authorization. There are many concerns with the proposed authorization of this new variety of genetically modified maize (1507, marketed as Herculex outside the EU), notably as regards its potential impact on pollinators, such as butterflies.

"Crucially, there has not been a proper assessment of the risks associated with it. This, combined with the clear opposition of European citizens to GMOs, means it should not have been proposed in the first place and should certainly be rejected. Beyond this, there is a need to reform the EU's GMO authorization process to take account of the consistently negative decisions in the EU's Council of Ministers. The partial renationalisation of competences on GM cultivation, proposed by the Commission but stalled in the legislative process, risks being a Trojan Horse. It must not be a trick to allow the Commission to force through swifter and easier EU level authorisations. This would be at total odds with public will, which opposes GMOs. Any new approval procedure should not be a tool for the Commission to bully EU member states into accepting authorizations for GM crops for which legitimate concerns clearly exist."

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