EU ministers resist GMO importation

Wednesday, December 22, 2004

Ivan Camilleri in Brussels

Malta and 12 other EU member states yesterday maintained their opposition to the importation into the European Union of genetically modified food.

A meeting of environment ministers in Brussels failed to reach agreement over a request to import a GM rapeseed known as GT73.

Malta was represented at the Environment Council by Environment Minister George Pullicino. Malta is opposed in principle to the importation of GMO food, of any type, as it is argued that there is still not enough evidence on the effects of these types of crops. The position is supported by environmental NGOs.

Environment ministers did not push the issue to a vote after a meeting of EU Permanent Representatives last week found the support of only six national governments. The release of the GM crop was backed only by the Netherlands, Finland, France, Portugal, Slovakia and Sweden.

With little sign of consensus among national governments on the issue, European Commission sources told The Times that a decision was now expected to be taken by the Commission in January. The stand-off will allow Brussels to rubber stamp the GMO release within three months - the third such approval since May.

GT73 rapeseed is a GM crop modified to resist a herbicide and destined for use in animal feed and industrial processing.

The rapeseed will not be grown in the EU and as such an approval is much more controversial. This constitutes a looming test of Europe's willingness to end bans on biotech crops.

timesofmalta.com