Source:
EuropaBio
Yesterday, the EU Council of Environment Ministers failed to
reach a decision on a Commission proposal to approve the
importation and feed use of GT73 GM oilseed rape in the EU.
It has already been approved in other parts of the world.
This oilseed rape is herbicide tolerant which provides
farmers with a management tool to control weeds (1). Since
the EU Ministers did not reach a qualified majority, the
dossier will now be referred back to the European Commission
for a final decision.
The biotech industry is
concerned about the lack of political coherence between what
the Member States agreed when they approved the new
regulatory framework for GM crops and in what they do when
it comes to approving these products. Despite the positive
recommendations from the European Food Safety Agency
(EFSA), some Member States keep voting negatively or
abstain from voting.
“Member
States are not facing up to their responsibilities,” says
Simon Barber, Director of the Plant Biotechnology Unit,
EuropaBio – the
European association for bioindustries (2). “Members States
are ignoring the very laws on GM crops that they and the
European Parliament have set up over the past five years .
As long as it remains like this, Member States are denying
Europe’s farmers the choice to use a technology which can
help them be competitive.”
The first
commercial planting of GT73 was in 1996 in Canada. GT73
oilseed rape has since been approved in Australia, the
United States, Mexico, the Philippines, Korea and Japan.
In the EU, oil derived from GT73 oilseed rape was approved
for food use in 1997 under the EU’s Novel Food Regulation.
(1) The oil
seed rape has been developed by Monsanto, a EuropaBio member
company
EuropaBio Fact sheet on Gt 73:
http://www.europabio.org/articles/article_327_EN.doc
EuropaBio, the European Association for Bioindustries, has
nearly 40 corporate members operating worldwide and 23
national biotechnology associations representing some 1500
small and medium sized enterprises involved in research and
development, testing, manufacturing and distribution of
biotechnology products.
Majority of EU Environment Ministers vote
against Monsanto's oilseed rape
Source: CORDIS News
19 out of the 25 Environment Ministers
who met in Brussels on 20 December voted against approval of
the GT73 oilseed rape, genetically modified (GM) by Monsanto
in order to resist its own herbicide, glyphosate.
In June of this year, a panel of EU environmental regulators
had also failed to give a positive opinion on the matter
despite the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) declaring
that GT73 was 'as safe as conventional oilseed rape for
humans and animals, and in the context of the proposed uses,
for the environment.'
As the qualified majority of 232 votes required for adopting
or rejecting a Commission's proposal was not reached, this
leaves the final decision to approve GT73 to the Commission.
The Commission has already stated that it believes the
introduction of this product to the Community market for
industrial processing and animal feed should be authorised.
'The product may be used as any other oilseed rape, with the
exception of cultivation and uses as or in food and may be
placed on the markets subject to the conditions laid down in
Article three (period of validity of ten years; labelling
conditions, authorised identifier, etc,' said the Commission
in a statement.
It is expected that the issue will go back to the Commission
in January. If approved, it will be the third GMO to be
authorised since May 2004.
© European Communities
European Union splits on GM – round nine
Source:
EUpolitix via
Checkbiotech
Europe’s GM policy remains in disarray after EU environment
ministers failed – for the ninth time – to approve a
genetically modified crop.
EU capitals have again failed to either approve or reject a
GM import request – this time for a GM rapeseed known as
GT73.
The decision to approve is now expected to be taken by the
European Commission in January 2005 – it will be the third
such approval since May 2004.
Europe’s environment ministers did not push the issue to a
vote after a meeting of EU diplomats last week found only
six national governments in support.
The Netherlands, Finland, France, Portugal, Slovakia and
Sweden backed release of the GM crop.
Britain, the Czech Republic, Germany, Ireland, Slovenia and
Spain abstained and 13 other EU member states were opposed.
The stand off now allows Brussels to rubber stamp the GMO
release within three months of the now seemingly inevitable
impasse at a council of environment ministers.
While the procedure ends an EU freeze on GM – in place from
1998 until 2004 – there is little sign of thaw or consensus
among national governments.
GT73 rapeseed is a GM crop modified to resist a herbicide,
and destined as an import for use in animal feed and
industrial processing.
The rapeseed will not be grown in the EU – such an approval
is a much more contentious, and a looming test, of Europe’s
willingness to end bans on biotech crops.
©2004 EUpolitix.com
