A comparative analysis, published on Friday 3 March by the NGO Friends of the Earth Europe (FoE), highlights the similarities between an internal Euroseeds document and the public consultation organised by the Commission in April 2022 on GMOs derived from new technologies (NGTs), for which it is considering, in part, deregulation (see EUROPE 13116/12, 13000/6).
These documents present the new GMOs as being as safe as conventional plants, use this claim as an argument to remove labelling requirements, and promote new GMOs developed by global pesticide corporations as a key tool for pesticide reduction in farming, without backing evidence, FoE points out.
“The European Commission has let agribusiness lobbies dictate its consultation’s questionnaire, while refusing to take into account any of the concerns raised by farmers, retailers, consumers and environmental groups. We are just asking for the regulation to be maintained in order to preserve freedom of choice”, Mute Schimpf, food expert at FoE, told some journalists.
CRISPR/Cas technology is “potent and can cause cocktail effects and unintended effects, which have not been assessed by EFSA”, added Astrid Oesterreicher, advisor to the TestBiotech Institute. “All NGT organisms must continue to undergo mandatory risk assessment to protect biodiversity and keep control over the safety of our food”, she said.
According to Eric Gall, Deputy Director of IFOAM Organics Europe, if GMOs from NGTs are assimilated to conventional crops, there will be GMOs from NGTs in organic crops. However, “the freedom of choice is not to use NGTs”, which is why he considers it “essential to maintain the compulsory identification of products obtained using NGTs and their traceability all along the production chain”.
The ‘Environment’ Council on 16 March will again be called on by Austria to address the issue. In 2021, it had requested the application of the precautionary principle (see EUROPE 12858/16).
FoE analysis: https://aeur.eu/f/5my (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)