Archived press release

GM Moratorium Must Stay Says FOE

12 February 2001

New European rules on the licencing of GM crops and food, due to be agreed later this week, won't protect consumers, farmers or the environment, Friends of the Earth warned today. The group called for the European moratorium on the granting of new GM crop licences, in place since June 1999, to remain [1].

After months of wrangling and lobbying by the biotech industry, Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) are expected to approve a revised EU GM directive at a meeting in Strasbourg which begins on Tuesday 13 February. The directive regulates the release of GMOs into the environment and food across the EU.

The proposed new directive has major failings:

• antibiotic marker genes won't be banned immediately - they'll be phased out [2] over a number of years;
• there's little to stop GM pollution contaminating organic and conventional farms [3];
• it doesn't make biotechnology companies liable for any of the effects (such as contamination of conventional crops) of GMO's.

Several EU countries including France have threatened not to accept any new GMO approvals, and retain the “de facto” moratorium.[4]

Adrian Bebb, GM campaigner at Friends of the Earth said
“This new GM Directive will not protect European consumers, farmers or the environment. Until their safety can be guaranteed and our right to choose is protected, Europe must maintain its moratorium on new GM licences.”

1. 5 countries (Denmark, France, Greece, Italy and Luxembourg) have said GM approvals won't be allowed until issues of traceability of GMOs and liability of biotech companies have been resolved.
2. Antibiotic resistance marker (ARMs) genes have been used in the lab stages of many GM crops but remain in the final product. Eminent bodies such as the British Medical Association and the Pastuer Institute have called for ARMs to be banned to avoid resistance to antibiotics spreading.
3. Previous Directive amendments called for measures to prevent gene transfer in the environment -so called genetic pollution. This would have protected conventional farmers, beekeepers and the environment but was voted down by the European Parliament.
4. A declaration stating that the Directive doesn't go far enough and that they'll continue to block GM applications has been circulated by France and supported by Italy, Greece and Luxembourg.

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Published by Friends of the Earth Trust