EU to push for GMO foods despite opposition
REUTERS
http://www.financialexpress.com/fe_full_story.php?content_id=85620

BRUSSELS, MARCH 18: Europe should press ahead with authorising more genetically modified (GMO) foods despite overwhelming opposition among European consumers, a draft EU document showed on Friday. Citing the lack of unanimity among the European Union's 25 member states on gene-altered crops, viewed by many European consumers as "Frankenstein foods", the EU executive plans to push new products through the system.

The document, obtained by Reuters, says the commission should back the "continued submission of draft decisions for the placing on the market of new GMO products".

It will need support from a majority in the 25-strong commission to become policy. This proposed position for the EU executive comes in the face of surveys that show 70% of European consumers oppose GMO foods, usually on health and environment grounds.

Only one EU country, Spain, grows substantial amounts of GMO crops and the continent as a whole remains a major holdout against the spread of the largely US-engineered plants, which are meant to increase yields and be resistant to pests. Next week, the EU executive will debate the subject, hoping to end the policy vacuum that has existed since it took office in November.

The discussion, slated for Tuesday, will be the commission’s first on biotechnology since January 2004. Apart from guarded comments from some members of the new commission, little of substance has been said on where the EU might head next with its policy on GMO crops and imports.

Six commissioners carry the most weight, since they are directly involved in GMO policy. They represent agriculture, environment, trade, research, industry and food safety. The six will present a discussion document that calls for GMO authorisations to continue despite years of stalemate among governments, even after the EU lifted its six-year moratorium on approving new GMOs by a default legal procedure last year.

"So far, every single one of the 13 commission proposals (for GMO approval) failed to get the required qualified (voting) majority, even for those GMOs not intended for cultivation, but for import and processing only,” the draft document says. “It is expected that ... the commission will have to continue to take ultimate responsibility for adoption of pending decisions for the placing on the market of new GMO products, at least for the immediate future," it said.

Under the EU’s decision-making process, if EU member states cannot agree after three months at ministerial level on allowing imports of a new GMO, then the Commission may rubber-stamp an approval. This is how the EU moratorium was lifted in May 2004. More and more countries now abstain in GMO votes, reducing the chances of agreement. A small group always votes in favour, such as Finland and the Netherlands; a counter-group, including Austria, Denmark, Greece and Luxembourg, always votes against.

The rest either abstain or vary their vote. The result is that no decision is taken, and it falls to the commission to approve the new GMO, months later. To avoid this, governments should be asked to "participate effectively in the process with a view to reaching clear positions", the Commission document said.

—Reuters

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