Athens, Greece
April 27, 2007
USDA/FAS GAIN report GR7005
Report highlights
The Government of Greece
(GOG) does not allow GMO seed to be sold or planted.
Conventional corn seed can be imported as long as the
adventitious presence of transgenic material does not exceed
0.5% (for cotton seed this level is "zero").
Just last week, Deputy
Minister of Agriculture
Mr. A. Kontos signed a new revision of a January 2006
ministerial decree that prohibits commercialization and usage of
GMO hybrid corn seed varieties of the MON 810 series in Greece.
This revision raised the number of banned varieties from 31 to
47. The continuing GOG justification for the ban is that these
hybrids pose a risk to the environment and to domestic
conventional varieties. The research to support these
contentions is unknown. Greece has yet to implement any
coexistence legislation.
In a separate, but GMO related
action last week, the same Deputy Minister of Agriculture, Mr A.
Kontos, ordered the confiscation of 88 tons of Chinese rice
protein meal at the Greek Customs Port of Pireaus for containing
an unapproved GM event (Bt 63). The product was to be used as
animal feed. The total tonnage originated with three 3 different
shipments of 48, 20 and 20 tons of bagged product. Ministry of
Agriculture border authorities will have the product destroyed
or re-exported. Reportedly, the EU Alert System has been
informed of these GOG actions. The GMO tests were conducted in
Germany. Another 90 tons of similar Chinese origin product is
being held in Pireaus customs awaiting laboratory test results.
The discovery of the Chinese GM
rice has led to the promulgation of a public order to Greek
Customs and local agricultural authorities, requiring that all
shipments of imported rice be subjected to laboratory testing
before clearing through customs, and that entry controls are not
to rely only on accompanying documents and certificates.
Mr. Kontos declared to the media
that, "We keep our positions fixed against the commercialization
and cultivation of GMOs and we are intensifying the
implementation of our preventive measures"....
Comment: Ironically, it seems that
Greece is more than willing to tie up valuable border and lab
resources chasing GMOs rather than have them available to deal
with well documented human and animal health risks. |
