France's Voynet questions motives of GMO seed firms
Date: 13-Jul-00
Country: FRANCE
Author: Crispian Balmer
France, which has just taken over the rotating presidency of the EU, is pushing for stricter regulations on GMOs following recent cases in which normal seed in several EU countries was found to contain traces of genetically modified material.
"We have been told that this contamination was accidental... But could it have been an attempt to test the vigilance and the firmness of the EU authorities?" Voynet told a news conference.
Yann Cannistraro, the head of the French office of one of the companies that imported affected seed from North America, told Reuters on Tuesday that allegations seed distributors had acted in bad faith were "ridiculous".
Environment ministers from the 15-nation EU block are due in Paris later this week for an informal three-day meeting and are scheduled to debate the GMO issue.
No final decisions will be taken, but France looks certain to demand that its EU partners continue to block the authorisation of new GMOs until clear rules on producer liability for environmental damage are drawn up.
The EU has not authorised any new GM crops since April 1998 amid growing fears among the public and politicians that they might pose health or environmental risks.
Last year a majority of EU environment ministers agreed to block further approvals until EU legislation was revised, but Voynet has complained that the proposed changes do not make biotechnology companies legally liable for any future damage.
Voynet said the GMO issue would be one of her ministry's priorities during the French presidency.
At the top of her agenda were preparations for a U.N. climate convention in the Hague in November. Voynet said she hoped her fellow EU environment ministers would adopt a common position ahead of the conference.
"The struggle against climate changes will be, as far as the environment dossier is concerned, the number one priority of the French presidency," she said.
Voynet said she would also use the six-month presidency to press for the creation of a global environmental agency to coordinate policy.
"International environmental law does not yet have the teeth that we would like to see," she told reporters. "Sanctions for countries which do not respect their (environmental) obligations are relatively rare and difficult to apply."
At an EU level, France would seek to get environmental standards imposed in all political domains, Voynet said, citing three particular projects - improving sea transport security, introducing green taxation on energy products and developing renewable energy sources.