EU Blocks GM Ban

Archived

Wednesday, 03 September 2003

The European Commission has blocked the first attempt by an EU region to turn itself into a statutory GM-free zone. Upper Austria wanted a total ban on GM crops but yesterday the Commission refused saying that Austria had presented no new scientific evidence to support the ban and could not opt out of EU-wide rules anyway.

The Commission has said that member states are entitled to "appropriate measures" to ensure other crops were not contaminated, but stressed that a total ban was out of the question. According to Friends of the Earth, campaigners in the UK who are trying to set up GM-free zones are using a different legal argument and seeking to prohibit individual crops.
Source: www.soilassociation.org