• 17 GM crops quietly approved in the EU

It’s been a busy week on the GMO front.

The European Commission took Europe another step closer to planting GMO crops today announcing that it had fast-tracked the approval of 17 GM crops (10 new authorisations and 7 renewals) – and 2 GM flowers.

The authorisations for food and feed use consist of: soybean (five types), cotton (seven types), maize (three types) and oilseed rape (two types). Cottonseed meal and oil is used in animal feed.

One of the approvals is for a new generation of GM soya, MON 87708, engineered to survive being sprayed with the highly toxic weedkiller dicamba. Varieties resistant to dicamba and 2,4-D (the active ingredient in the Vietnam War defoliant Agent Orange) were only approved in the US last year as a ‘solution’ to the growing problem of superweeds resistant to the glyphosate (Roundup) which has been sprayed liberally on GM crops for nearly two decades.,

The approvals, which were done in a very low-key way, have their roots in January’s decision to ratify new legislation to devolve decision making about GMO cultivation to individual Member States. But far from being a triumph of Member State sovereignty, the fine print of the new law makes it much harder for those countries who wish to ‘opt out’ of planting GMOs to legally justify that decision.

Campaigners also believe that the approvals are an example of the way the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) negotiations are already influencing European policy and decision-making when it comes to GMOs.

As the transatlantic trade talks have progressed there has been increasing pressure from the biotech industry and the US government to open up the EU market to GM imports and to speed up authorisation procedures.

New import rules too

GM crops are widely grown in the Americas and in Asia, but the EU has long resisted planting them. However the EU attitude to importing GMOs is far more lax; 58 GM crops are already used in food and animal feed in the EU. But cultivation is restricted to just one – Monsanto’s MON810 maize, in Spain and Portugal.

Under new GM import rules, also proposed this week, future authorisations would automatically follow the approval of new strains by the European Food and Safety Agency (EFSA), with individual countries being given an opt-out option similar to the one on GM cultivation agreed in January.

But according to a draft of the import proposals, leaked to the Guardian newspaper there is a stipulation that, once the EFSA has cleared a product, opt-outs will not be granted to EU states that voice health or environmental concerns. Worrying since EFSA has never refused a GM authorisation.

TTIP in action

The proposals, which European Commission President Jean Claude Juncker vowed would democratise the process of approving or otherwise of GMOs in the EU, ignore the huge opposition to GM crops among the European public as well as serious concerns raised by independent scientists regarding the safety of GM crops. If accepted they would allow the Commission to authorise the import of GMOs, even when a majority of national governments, the European Parliament and the public oppose them.

It ignores the huge opposition to GM crops among the European public and as well as the serious concerns raised by independent scientists regarding the safety of GM crops.

“The Commission’s proposal is a farce because it leaves the current undemocratic system untouched. It would allow the Commission to continue ignoring major opposition to GM crops, despite president Juncker’s promise to allow a majority of EU countries to halt Commission decisions on GMOs…This is TTIP in action.” said Greenpeace EU’s food policy director Franziska Achterberg.

Legislation that pleases nobody

Ironically, international biotech companies are also unhappy with the proposals. The European Association of Bioindustries, EuropaBio, is concerned that giving Member States even a theoretical ability to ban GMOs could undermine single market rules.

It notes that “GMOs are an integral part of our daily lives”, citing the fact that Europeans pay with GM cotton bank notes and wear GM cotton clothes, and rely on GM commodities to feed our farm animals.

The British Conservatives delegation in the European Parliament likewise denounced the “Commission’s cave-in” on GMOs, saying it will prevent imports of animal feed which many farmers rely on to feed their livestock.

However, Bart Staes, Green/European Free Alliance MEP for Belgium maintains that: “The Juncker Commission is continuing down the slippery slope of easing the way for GMOs in Europe. The Commission should be heeding the legitimate concerns of European citizens, rather than bowing to the demands of biotech corporations.”

We can’t afford to be complacent, silent or faceless any more – please voice your opposition to the GMO creep by uploading your photo and comment to the GM Free Me visual petition.