EU one step closer to law on national GMO crop bans
Widely grown in the Americas and Asia, GM crops in Europe have divided opinion, with opposition in many countries including France and Germany, while Britain favours them.
A previous compromise endorsed this year by EU ministers would have required negotiations with the relevant companies, if a nation wanted to ban a GM crop in the event it had been approved for EU-wide use.
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The plan voted through the Parliament's environment committee on Tuesday would leave out that stage and allows member states to ban GM crops on environmental grounds.
It drew praise from GM opponents.
“MEPs have today voted to strengthen the hand of member states or regions wanting to opt-out of EU authorisations of GMOs," said Bart Staes, a spokesperson for the Greens in the European Parliament. "No must mean no: countries wanting to opt out of GM authorisations must have a totally legally watertight framework for doing so."
"Today's vote would give European countries a legally solid right to ban GM cultivation in their territory, making it difficult for the biotech industry to challenge such bans in court," Marco Contiero, Greenpeace EU agriculture policy director, said.
Left-leaning politicians also welcomed Tuesday's vote, which kicks off formal negotiations on a legal text, saying it strengthened the grounds for opting out of any GM cultivation.
Conservatives were
opposed.
http://www.euractiv.com/sections/agriculture-food/eu-one-step-closer-law-national-gmo-crop-bans-309927
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