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GM freeze: The law's on our side.
22 February 1999
But the new opinion, obtained by Friends of the Earth and the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds by international barrister and academic Phillipe Sands, says that “good arguments can be made to support the view that a moratorium on the commercial growing of GM seeds would not be contrary to EU and WTO law”.
In support of his argument Mr Sands quotes:
. Article 100a(4) of the Treaty of Rome, which allows Member states to apply national provisions on environmental grounds, if certain conditions are met
. The WTO Sanitary and Phytosanitary Agreement, which allows Member states to provisionally adopt trade restrictive measures, even if relevant scientific evidence is insufficient for a final decision.
Commenting, FOE Legal Adviser Peter Roderick said:
“This opinion shows that the Government can find legal arguments for a moratorium on the commercial growing of GM crops. Both European and world trade law contains provisions which allow national Government to act to protect the environment. Of course we cannot act in an arbitrary way. But the evidence of environmental dangers is already there and the precautionary principle must be applied.”
FOE Food Campaigner Pete Riley said:
“The UK Government's decisions on GM crops are not really driven by international law,they are political decisions made for domestic reasons. There is a powerful industry lobby, with friends at the highest level of Government. They are determined to get what they want, whatever public opinion may say. International law has been used as a fig-leaf to cover that simple fact.”
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Published by Friends of the Earth Trust
Last modified: Jul 2008
