Brussels, 03/02/2016 (Agence Europe) - As the same causes produce the same effects, the European Parliament has once again opposed, on the grounds of public health reasons, the authorisation to import three genetically modified soyas which are resistant to the infamous glyphosate, amongst other herbicides, into the EU for food purposes.
These are FG72, MON 87708 x MON 89788 and the hybrid Sawyer MON 87705 x MON 89788 destined for human and animal consumption (see EUROPE 11473).
The objections, which were presented by MEPs Bart Staes (Greens/EFA, Belgium), Sirpa Pietikäinen (EPP, Finland), Guillaume Balas (S&D, France), Lynn Boylan (GUE/NGL, Ireland) and Eleonara Evi (EFDD, Italy) for each of the three GMOs were all adopted by show of hand in Strasbourg on Wednesday 3 February (see EUROPE 11473).
To shore up their position, the MEPs point out that on 20 March 2015, glyphosate was acknowledged by the WHO to be probably carcinogenic to humans, although the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) concluded for its part, on 12 November of last year, that it was “probably not”.
They point out that since the authorisation process for GMOs in the EU entered into force, authorisation decisions have been made by the European Commission against the majority opinion of the member states and the legislative draft aiming to allow the member states to limit or ban the use of GMO on their territory was rejected by the Parliament. The Parliament has previously vetoed the authorisation of the genetically modified maize NK 603, which is also resistant to glyphosate. (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)