Brussels, Belgium
13 January 2015
“This is a stop sign for innovation in Europe”, said Jeff Rowe, Chairman of the Agri-Food Council of EuropaBio, the European Association for Bioindustries, commenting on the vote by the European Parliament on genetically modified (GM) crops.
“Member States will receive a license to ban safe products which have been approved at European level, and they will be allowed to base these bans on non-scientific grounds. This sets a dangerous precedent for the internal market and sends a negative signal to innovative industries considering investing in Europe. European researchers and farmers have lost access to this key-enabling technology and the chance to grow more sustainable crops and remain competitive globally”, he said.
All serious existing evidence, after more than 18 years of large scale GMO cultivation and consumption, has shown that GM crops are as safe as their conventional counterparts and can deliver remarkable benefits for farmers, consumers and the environment. The EU legal framework for the cultivation of GM products, initially adopted in 2001 (Directive 2001/18/EC), has never been correctly implemented because of a lack of political will. Both the Commission and EU Member States regularly fail to respect mandatory deadlines for GM approvals not only for cultivation, but also for imports of GM crops on which European livestock farmers are heavily dependent.
“Safe products should be authorised without further delay. 23 safety-assessed GM products are currently waiting for approval by the EC, among which 18 are for import, not cultivation. Without these imports we are putting our livestock farming sector at risk”, added Rowe.
EuropaBio cautions against expectations that this vote will lead to faster GM approvals. The biotech industry firmly believes that failing to support the EU’s own best science is the single most damaging element for growth, innovation, investment as well as consumer confidence and safety.
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