Seventeen new genetically modified (GM) food products are set to be authorised for import to Europe before the end of May in a major acceleration of biotech trade, according to a report from the Guardian.
An announcement is expected next week, the paper said, when EU commissioners meet to review the adoption of new rules for approving GM imports.
Non-governmental organisation Greenpeace warned that the controversial free trade deal currently under discussion between the EU and the US, TTIP, has increased the pressure to permit the entry of such products.
“With transatlantic trade talks ongoing, pressure has been mounting from the biotech industry and the US government to break open the EU market to GM imports and to speed up authorisation procedures,” Marco Contiero, Greenpeace EU’s agriculture director, told the Guardian. “The possible authorisation of 17 GM crops by the commission in the next few days is a likely result of this pressure.”
Under new GM import rules being proposed, future authorisations would automatically follow the approval of new strains by the European Food and Safety Agency (Efsa), with individual countries being given an opt-out option similar to the one on GM cultivation agreed earlier this year.
“It will be up to each member state wanting to make use of this ‘opt-out’ to develop this justification on a case-by-case basis, taking into account the GMO in question, the type of measure envisaged and the specific circumstances at national or regional level that can justify such an opt-out,” the draft seen by the Guardian stated.
Most controversial, according to Greenpeace, is the stipulation that, once the Efsa has cleared a product, opt-outs will not be granted to EU states that voice health or environmental concerns. Especially since, as the Guardian states, Efsa has never refused a GM authorisation.
Greenpeace equally opposes the review proposal, which effectively removes a democratically-elected government’s ability to protect its own environment and people from potential risks.
Contiero said that the proposal “fails to address major opposition to GM crops among public opinion and ignores concerns raised by national scientific bodies on the safety of GM crops”.
