At its last plenary meeting before the elections, the EU Parliament approved the European Commission’s proposal for a broad exemption from the previous requirements for risk assessment, labeling and inspections of the new generation of GMOs – products of the so-called “new genomic techniques”.
Svetla Nikolova from AGROLINK said: “Today’s vote goes against the fundamental precautionary principle that has been at the heart of European policy and the EU’s approach to potentially risky products. Furthermore, if the deregulation proposal is adopted, the new generation of GMOs will no longer be subject to either the EU Environmental Liability Directive, the Cartagena Protocol or the Consumer Directive. EU member states will not have the right to make sovereign decisions about agricultural policies and the provision of safe food.”
“In particular, this means that agrochemical giants such as Bayer, Corteva and BASF can minimize the costs associated with bringing new GM products to market, but increase their profits from the sale of untested seeds and patent fees, even if their use leads to contamination of the environment or threatens the income of farmers by polluting the crop, and all this without being responsible for the potential damages,” the association informs us.
While the United States has pressured the EU to emulate its approach to deregulating new GMOs by removing safety checks, the EU plan goes even further by not applying liability procedures similar to those in the US.
The Bulgarian MEPs did not accept the report on the deregulation of the new GMOs, which the Bulgarian public appreciates as a good sign for the protection of farmers and food.
The Bulgarian Food Chain Risk Assessment Center at the Ministry of Health, the French Health Authority ANSES, the German Federal Agency for Nature Conservation BfN and the Austrian Environmental Agency UBA have in recent months substantiated with scientific arguments that new GMOs should be regulated with similar provisions such as those in the current GMO legislation. The agencies prove that gene editing is not a precise technique and carries serious health and environmental risks.
The Commission’s deregulation proposal now goes back to European agriculture ministers in the EU Council, who have so far blocked it. On 7 February 2024, at the last meeting of the representatives of the Member States, during which they discussed the position of the EU Council on the dossier, Bulgaria, Belgium, Germany, Luxembourg, Slovenia, Poland, Austria, Slovakia, Croatia, Romania and Hungary did not support the then Council text.
However, European Parliament rapporteur Jessica Polfjord is pro-GMO and pro-deregulation, and only she will negotiate in the Council if she is re-elected as an MEP. No other MEP will speak according to the current interpretation of democracy in the EP.
Tags: European Parliament votes food farmers rights environment
