Save our Seeds

The European Commission, the EU’s executive arm, delayed a decision on Wednesday on whether farmers may grow more genetically modified crops, saying further scientific analysis was needed before approval could be given. The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) will be asked for more assessment of the risk of growing two GM maize crops, and a potato modified to produce extra starch. That move is likely to put off EU approval of the crops for several months.

The European Commission may again put off a decision on whether farmers can grow more genetically modified crops when it holds a long-awaited biotech policy debate in May, officials said on Monday. After months of expectation, the Commission has finally set May 7 for debating its biotech policy, centered around what has been called the ”Dimas package”: EU Environment Commissioner Stavros Dimas, one of the most GMO-wary commissioners. Cultivation of GM crops is expected to be at the top of the agenda, with three applications long overdue for consideration, one lawsuit filed against the Commission and another threatened.

Greenpeace welcomes the Romanian Government’s landmark decision to ban genetically engineered (GE) maize, announced today. The move is particularly significant as GE maize is the only commercially cultivated GE crop permitted in Europe. Mr Attila Korodi’s, Minister of Environment and Durable Development, announcement banning Monsanto’s GE maize MON 810, makes Europe’s largest per hectare maize producer GE-free. Romania is the seventh of Europe’s leading maize producers to ban the growing of GE varieties, following France, Hungary, Italy, Austria, Greece and Poland.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy on Saturday announced a ban on Monsanto's MON 810 GM maize in France, the only GM maize variety presently legal to grow within the European Union. Farm activist José Bove publicly finished his hunger strike against the crop while Monsanto and the large farmers association complained.

France will extend its ban on the use and sale of gm maize MON 810, the only genetically modified crop grown in the country, unless a newly set-up committee on GMOs can prove it is safe. A present ban expires in February.

At a high level organic conference in Brussels GMOs were the most important point of dissent between organic farmers and the European Commission. Whilst the organic representatives from practically every EU country and adjacent states like Croatia and White Russia demanded zero tolerance for GMO contamination, representatives of the Commission advocated a general allowance of 0,9%.

France formally suspended on Thursday the commercial use of genetically modified (GMO) seeds in the country until early February and ordered a biotech safety study. The future of GMOs has long been the subject of heated debate in France -- Europe’s top grain producer -- and the country’s reluctance to use GMO crops compares starkly with the United States, which is far more tolerant of the technology.

A proposal that Europe’s top environment official made last month to ban the planting of a genetically modified corn strain across the bloc sets the stage for a bitter war within European Union, where politicians have done their best to dance around the issue.

A temporary sales ban on GMO-giant Monsanto’s genetically modified MON810 maize was lifted after the company agreed to extra crop monitoring in Germany, German authorities anounced. Germany had in May this year imposed a temporary ban on commercial sales of MON810 citing concerns about safety of the maize.

Poland continues to defy the European Commission’s law on genetically modified products by banning the entry of GMO goods into the country. It has only 20 days to respond to EC’s accusation that the country’s laws violate EC regulations. The continued ban may result in fines of as much as $381,407 (260,000 euro) a day. A ruling by the EU court that Poland violated the law will also expose Warsaw to lawsuits GMO trading firms may file against the Polish government.