EU Rethinks Strategy on Agreeing Gene Seed Rules
Date: 27-Oct-03
Country: BELGIUM
Author: Jeremy Smith
In a last-minute turnaround after saying the EU's seeds committee would vote early next week on its proposed thresholds for GMO presence in organic and conventional seeds, the EU executive has now sought legal advice and changed its mind.
EU legislation on GMOs is highly complex and interwoven, with different rules applying to seeds, food, feed, live GMOs for planting in fields, and GM ingredients in processed foods.
Setting levels for permitted GMO content in seed for organic and conventional crop cultivation is one of the last obstacles to the EU ending its unofficial five-year ban on biotech crops.
The seed thresholds will now be discussed by two different committees: firstly for the EU's "deliberate release" law applying to live GMOs for planting, and secondly by the seeds committee under the bloc's separate seeds legislation.
This, the Commission says, will give an extra environmental check, make everything legally watertight and avoid court cases.
"We had a close look at all the connected legislation. We prefer to have this done under both laws to avoid legal inconsistencies...and also to avoid any possible court cases," a Commission official told reporters.
No date had been set for the first committee to meet but it was unlikely to take place before the end of the year, she said.
"The idea would still be to have the (seeds) dossier ready for the next growing season," she told reporters, adding that the dossier was effectively delayed by at least six months.
The delay on seed rules should not affect a vote by EU member states on authorizing new genetically modified crops and food products, which may be held as early as next month.
"There is nothing that will prevent having an authorization approved," the official said. The first item up for a vote, possibly next month, is a food product: Bt-11 maize, marketed by Swiss agrochemicals maker Syngenta.
If authorization were approved, the moratorium would effectively end - to the delight of Argentina, Canada and the United States, which have taken the EU to the World Trade Organization for refusing to authorize any new GM strains since 1998.
GREENS WELCOME RETHINK
EU rules for growing gene crops are already in place, while legislation on food and animal feed containing GMOs has now been rubber-stamped and will apply by spring 2004. The Commission had repeatedly said it wanted seed rules in force at the same time.
Last month, the seeds committee broke up in disarray after a fierce debate on the Commission's proposals, which call for organic and conventional rapeseed to have a 0.3 percent GMO limit, 0.5 percent for maize and 0.7 percent for soybeans.
Conventional seeds that contain genetically modified seeds below these thresholds would not have to be labeled.
Green groups hailed the Commission rethink, saying it was an admission that a GMO seed presence posed an environmental risk.
"This is a major victory for the environment. It acknowledges that even small quantities of GMOs in conventional seeds can have a major environmental impact," said Eric Gall, policy advisor for Greenpeace's Brussels-based European unit.
"Now it will be up to member states to decide whether to legalize GM contamination through the back door," he said.