Brussels, Belgium
28 October 2015
“We welcome the European Parliament’s rejection of the Commission’s patchwork proposal allowing national bans on the use of safe, EU-approved products on the basis of non-scientific criteria. If approved, such a proposal would undermine the internal market and farmers’ livelihoods and set off alarm bells for any innovative industry looking to invest in Europe,” said Leticia Gonçalves, Chairman of the Agri-Food Council of EuropaBio.
EuropaBio urges the Commission to take heed of the vote by the democratically elected Parliament and withdraw its harmful and disproportionate proposal, in line with its own Better Regulation Agenda. This is a plea which is shared by the entire EU Food and Feed Chain.
The only viable solution for fixing the malfunctioning GMO approval system is to authorise safe products within legally prescribed timelines, as is commonplace for all other categories of regulated products.
“Moreover, we suggest that the Commission finally put forth a proposal that Member States have called for since 2006 i.e. plans on the adventitious presence of GMOs in seeds as well as a so-called ‘technical solution’ for food, which would provide legal certainty currently lacking in these areas,” said Gonçalves.
References:
About EuropaBio:
EuropaBio, the European Association for Bioindustries, promotes an innovative and dynamic European biotechnology industry. EuropaBio and its members are committed to the socially responsible use of biotechnology to improve quality of life, to prevent, diagnose, treat and cure diseases, to improve the quality and quantity of food and feedstuffs and to move towards a biobased and zero-waste economy. EuropaBio represents 77 corporate and associate members and bio regions, and 16 national biotechnology associations in turn representing over 1800 biotech SMEs.
Topics
Species
