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EUROPE MUST STAND FIRM ON GM MORATORIUM

15 Oct 2001

DON'T ABANDON EU GM MORATORIUM
LISTEN TO YOUR CITIZENS, NOT THE BIOTECH INDUSTRY SAYS FOE

Friends of the Earth is calling on EU Member States to resist moves by the EU Commission to end a two-year de facto moratorium on the approval of new GM food and crops. At a meeting to be held in Brussels tomorrow (Tuesday 16 October), the Commission is expected to call for the moratorium to be replaced by a series of “voluntary agreements” with the biotech industry. If this happens it would give the green light for 13 new GM crops and 11 new GM foods to be put on the market.

Friends of the Earth opposes the lifting of the moratorium. No new GM food or crop should be approved in Europe until:

• the EU's new directive on deliberate release of GMOs is in place
• the proposals for the traceability and labelling of GMOs and GM food/feed have been agreed by the European Parliament and the Member States;
• European citizens wish to have new GM foods and crops.

Adrian Bebb, Real Food Campaigner at Friends of the Earth said:

“The European Commission should be defending the rights of its citizens rather than pandering to the biotech industry. People in Europe want rigorous approval procedures for GMOs, mandatory labelling of GM products, and strict liability for GMO-producers in case these products damage health or the environment. As none of these are yet in place Member States must ensure that the moratorium continues.”

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