[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]

[SANET-MG] GM policy shift in EU



The proposal for EU establishment of "safe" separation of GM crops to
prevent genetic pollution is interesting. However, I am concerned that
the US and Canadian "safe" separation will likely be implemented.  The
US and Canadian  "safe" separations  are most unsafe and have led to
widespread pollution from GM canola and GM maize.
January 26, 2005 the scientist

GM policy shift in EuropeAgriculture commissioner Mariann Fischer Boel
wants new rules for genetically modified crops | By Ned Stafford

Newly installed European Agriculture Commissioner Mariann Fischer Boel
has signaled a major shift in European Union policies toward genetically
modified (GM) crops, telling a German newspaper last week that she
believes the European Union should issue guidelines for acceptable
distances between GM and non-GM crops.

Currently, the European Union leaves it up to member states to regulate
sowing of GM crops so they do not contaminate adjacent non-GM fields
with GM pollen. Coexistence of GM and non-GM farm fields is so
controversial in several EU nations, including Germany, that Fischer
Boel's predecessor, Franz Fischler, simply avoided the issue.

In an interview with the daily Berliner Zeitung, Fischer Boel said that
GM and non-GM fields must be separated to avoid GM contamination.
However, she said: "Regulations must not be so hard that the producers
of GM crops have no chance to come to market."

Some German political observers saw Fischer Boel's comments as a veiled
reference to Germany's new strict GM law, which holds planters of GM
crops liable for economic damages to adjacent non-GM fields even if they
followed planting instructions and other regulations. Many GM crop
supporters see the law as an indirect attempt to stop GM planting in
Germany. The law was spearheaded by German Agriculture Minister Renate
Künast, a member of the Green party, which is a junior coalition partner
of Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, SPD party.

Schroeder's main opposition parties, the CDU/CSU and the FDP, both
issued statements applauding Fischer Boel's initiative while at the same
time criticizing Künast's "ideologically conditioned go-it-alone" law.

In an interview with The Scientist, Michael Mann, spokesman for Fischer
Boel, acknowledged that there were issues with the new German law in
terms of "whether it was proportional" to the legitimate needs of
co-existence.

"We have asked for a clarification," Mann said, adding that the
requested study will also look at current GM planting regulations in
other EU nations.

Based on that study, expected to be completed by the end of the year,
Fischer Boel and her fellow members on the European Commission, the
European Union's executive body, will decide what sort of coexistence
regulations would be feasible for Europe, Mann said.

When asked whether Fischer Boel in general supports GM crops and
research, Mann said: "She does, if GM crops are kept separate [from
non-GM fields]. She believes GM crops are a reality; they are with us
and need to be properly regulated."

Christoph Then, a GM expert for Greenpeace Germany, which supported
passage of the new German law, told The Scientist that Fischer Boel's
comments mean that "the issue of coexistence has returned to the EU level."

But Then declined to speculate on the significance of her comments to
the anti-GM crop movement. "This is a change of policy in the European
Union, but it is too early to know what it means," he said.

Then said that however the issue develops at the European Commission
level, Greenpeace's goal will continue to be a total moratorium on GMOs
in Europe, especially for rapeseed and corn.

The organization will continue to push its theme that unless it can be
definitely proven that GMOs are safe, they should be considered unsafe,
Then said. "And with the evidence we have now, we believe they are not
safe."

To that end, Greenpeace Europe this year plans to issue two reports,
Then said. The first, which might be issued by late February, would be a
concrete Europe-wide "risk assessment" of the effect of GM crops on
non-GM fields.

The second report would be a "more abstract" study of the basic question
of the overall safety of GM organisms. It would be designed to spark a
major "scientific discussion" in Europe on the use of GMOs, Then said.
"We think we need to come back to the basic scientific question of what
we really know about the safety of GMOs," he said.

Links for this article
Mariann Fischer Boel
http://europa.eu.int/comm/commission_barroso/fischer-boel/index _en.htm

"Obligatory standards for the gene crop farming," Berliner Zeitung,
January 20, 2005.
http://www.BerlinOnline.de/berliner-zeitung/politik/414070.html

N. Stafford, "GM law 'a blow for science,'" The Scientist, December 1, 2004.
http://www.biomedcentral.com/news/20041201/01

********************************************************
To unsubscribe from SANET-MG:
1- Visit http://lists.sare.org/archives/sanet-mg.html to unsubscribe or;
2- Send a message to <listserv@sare.org> from the address subscribed to the list. Type "unsubscribe sanet-mg" in the body of the message.

Visit the SANET-MG archives at: http://lists.sare.org/archives/sanet-mg.html
For more information on grants and other resources available through the SARE program, please visit http://www.sare.org.