Genetically Modified Crops

European Parliament agreed on draft rules allowing individual governments to refuse growing genetically modified crops (GM) on their territory although the genetically modified crops have been authorized on the European levels. Although the Parliament believes many countries will take the opportunity to restrict GM crops, this plan will help reconcile anti- and pro-GM countries, unlock stalled approval processes, and lead to more GM crops in European fields.

Some issues that have arisen from GM crops were European consumers spurn GM foods and some national governments have tried outlawing GM foods. Also in the past decade, the disagreement among states has crippled regulatory decisions and some countries have seen their bans challenged in court by seed producers. This plan gives power to national governments which will avoid these issues.

Due to different views from European Parliament and GM opponents crucial amendments have been made to the draft rules. Parliamentarians proposed letting member states ban a given crop for a broader range of reasons, including environmental grounds, without putting in question EFSA’s science-based risk assessment.

Some significant changes are the committee in charge of environmental, public health, and food safety (ENVI) scrapped the member states’ proposal to involve seed companies directly in the banning process, which has outraged the environmental groups, and suggested letting member states ban groups of crops at once, instead of one by one. The Parliament also requires member states to take “appropriate measures to avoid the unintended presence of GMOs in other products on their territory and in border areas of neighboring Member states”. An example of this is creating buffer zones between GM and non-GM fields.

Before the year ends, The Parliament, the European Commission, and the Council of Ministers have now entered negotiations to settle on a joint version of the draft to agree on.

Not only should every individual have their own say on if they want to eat GM vs non-GM foods but this could potentially impact the export with America. This is really interesting but I believe every person should have the right to choose, I wouldn’t want to have to get up and move or try my hardest to get GM foods if more people in my individual government want non-GM crops/food.



Article: http://news.sciencemag.org/environment/2014/11/e-u-moves-closer-enabling-national-bans-gm-crops