Jump to content

Genetically modified food in the European Union

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Aircorn (talk | contribs) at 12:02, 3 December 2011 (Start split off article). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)

Genetic Engineering products are sold in European countries.

Regulation

The European Union (EU) has possibly the most stringent GMO regulations in the world.[1] All GMOs, along with irradiated food, are considered "new food" and subject to extensive, case-by-case, science based food evaluation by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA). The EFSA reports to the European Commission who then draft a proposal for granting or refusing the authorisation. This proposal is submitted to the Section on GM Food and Feed of the Standing Committee on the Food Chain and Animal Health and if accepted it will be adopted by the EC or passed on to the Council of Agricultural Ministers. Once in the Council it has three months to reach a qualified majority for or against the proposal, if no majority is reached the proposal is passed back to the EC who will then adopt the proposal.[1] There is also a safeguard clause that Member States can invoke to restrict or prohibit the use and/or sale of a GMO within their territory if they have a justifiable reasons to consider that the approved GMO constitutes a risk to human health or the environment.[2]

In 2010 Austria, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Hungary, Ireland, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Slovenia, and the Netherlands wrote a joint paper requesting that individual countries have the right to decide whether to cultivate GM crops. Currently (2010) the only GMO food crop with approval for cultivation in Europe is MON810, a Bt expressing maize conferring resistance to the European corn borer, that gained approval in 1998. On 2 March 2010 a second GMO, a potato called Amflora, was approved for cultivation for industrial applications in the EU by the European Commission[3] and was grown in Germany, Sweden and the Czech Republic that year.[4] Gene flow will occur between related crops and the EC issued new guidelines in 2010 regarding the co-existence of GM and non-GM crops.[5] Co-existence is regulated by the use of buffer zones and isolation distances between the GM and non-GM crops. The guidelines are not binding and each Member State can implement their own regulations, resulting in buffer zones ranging from 15 meters (in Sweden) to 800 meters (in Luxembourg).[1] It also provides the possibility to designate GMO-free zones, effectively allowing Member states to ban cultivation of GM crops in their territory without invoking the safe guard clause.[5]

The regulations concerning the import and sale of GMOs for human and animal consumption grown outside the EU involve providing freedom of choice to the farmers and consumers.[6] All food (including processed food) or feed which contains greater than 0.9% of approved GMOs must be labelled. Twice GMOs unapproved by the EC have arrived in the EU and been forced to return to their port of origin.[1] The first was in 2006 when a shipment of rice from America containing an experimental GMO variety (LLRice601) not meant for commercialisation arrived at Rotterdam. The second in 2009 when trace amounts of a GMO maize approved in the US were found in a "non-GM" soy flour cargo.[1]

Adoption=

Spain is the largest producer of GM crops in Europe with 76,000 hectares (190,000 acres) of GM maize planted in 2009 (20% of Spain's maize production).[7] Smaller amounts were produced in the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Portugal, Romania and Poland.[7] France and Germany are the major opponents of genetically modified food in Europe, although Germany has approved Amflora a potato modified with higher levels of starch for industrial purposes.[8] In addition to France and Germany, other European countries that placed bans on the cultivation and sale of GMOs include Austria, Hungary, Greece, and Luxembourg.[9] Poland has also tried to institute a ban, with backlash from the European Commission.[10] Bulgaria effectively banned cultivation of genetically modified organisms on March 18, 2010.[11]

France

France adopted the EU laws on growing GMOs in 2007[12] and were fined €10 million by the European Court of Justice for the six year delay in implementing the laws.[13] In February 2008 the French government used the safeguard clause to ban the cultivation of MON810 after Senator Jean-François Le Grand, chairman of a committee set up to evaluate biotechnolgy, said there were "serious doubts" about the safety of the product.[14] Twelve scientists and two economists on the committee accused Le Grand of misrepresenting the report and say they did not have "serious doubts" although questions remained concerning the impact of Bt-maize on health and the environment.[15] The French government submitted a number of studies to back up its claim to the EU. These were given to the EFSA who concluded that there was no new evidence to undermine the previous safety findings and considered the decision "scientifically unfounded".[16] The High Council for Biotechnology subcommittee dealing with economic, ethical and social aspects recommended an additional "GMO-free" label for anything containing less than 0.1% GMO which is due to come in late 2010.[1][17]

Germany

In April 2009 German Federal Minister Ilse Aigner announced an immediate halt to cultivation and marketing of MON810 maize under the safeguard clause.[18] The ban was based on "expert opinion" that suggested there was reasonable grounds to believe that MON810 maize presents a danger to the environment.[19] Three French scientists reviewing the scientific evidence used to justify the ban concluding that it did not use a case-by-case approach, confused potential hazards with proven risks and ignored the meta-knowledge on Bt expressing maize, instead focusing on selected individual studies.[20]

  1. ^ a b c d e f Attention: This template ({{cite doi}}) is deprecated. To cite the publication identified by doi:10.1016/j.plantsci.2009.12.005, please use {{cite journal}} (if it was published in a bona fide academic journal, otherwise {{cite report}} with |doi=10.1016/j.plantsci.2009.12.005 instead.
  2. ^ European Commission. "Food Safety: From the farm to the fork (What are the National safeguard measures)". EUROPA.
  3. ^ "European Commission approves Amflora starch potato - BASF - The Chemical Company - Corporate Website". BASF. Retrieved 2010-09-24.
  4. ^ Scientific background report AMFLORA potato VIB (Flemish Institute for biotechnology), Belgium, Retrieved 20 October 2010
  5. ^ a b GMO Safety. "New coexistence - Guidelines in the EU: Cultivation bans are now permitted".
  6. ^ Directorate-general for agriculture and rural development. "Economic impact of unapproved gmos on eu feed imports and livestock production" (PDF). European Commission.
  7. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference ISAAA was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  8. ^ Elisabeth Rosenthal (July 24, 2007). "A Genetically Modified Potato, Not for Eating, Is Stirring Some Opposition in Europe". The New York Times.
  9. ^ "Germany joins ranks of anti-GMO countries". EurActiv. Retrieved 2010-03-08.
  10. ^ "EU lawyers take action against Poland over GMO ban | Green Business | Reuters". Uk.reuters.com. 2008-01-31. Retrieved 2010-03-08.
  11. ^ "Bulgaria parliament bans GMO crops to soothe fears". Reuters. 2010-03-18.
  12. ^ Sybille de La Hamaide (Tue Mar 20, 2007). "France adopts disputed EU laws on GMO crop growing". Reuters. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  13. ^ Zoë Casey (09.12.2008). "France fined over GM law". {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  14. ^ (AFP) – Feb 8, 2008 (2008-02-08). "AFP: French GM ban infuriates farmers, delights environmentalists". Afp.google.com. Retrieved 2010-03-08.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  15. ^ GMO Compass. "Maize MON 810: France triggers safeguard clause".
  16. ^ GMO Compass. "EFSA: ban on cultivating MON810 maize in France is unfounded".
  17. ^ Caroline Scott-Thomas (30-Nov-2009). "France defines GMO-free labelling threshold". {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  18. ^ Thorsten Severin and Michael Hogan (2009-04-14). "Germany to ban cultivation of GMO maize-Minister". Reuters. Retrieved 2010-03-08.
  19. ^ GMO compass. "German ban on MON810 maize: will the courts now decide?".
  20. ^ Attention: This template ({{cite doi}}) is deprecated. To cite the publication identified by doi:10.1007/s11248-009-9297-5, please use {{cite journal}} (if it was published in a bona fide academic journal, otherwise {{cite report}} with |doi=10.1007/s11248-009-9297-5 instead.
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Genetically_modified_food_in_the_European_Union&oldid=463816988"