Strasbourg, 12/04/2000 (Agence Europe) - With the adoption of the report by British Labour member David Bowe, the Parliament amended the Council common position on the voluntary dissemination of genetically modified organisms into the environment (see also EUROPE of 7 April, p.9), but without going as far as its environment committee had hoped. The plenary session did not manage to gather the 314 majority votes needed in second reading to amend the text of the Council on: (1) the measures to be taken in order to avoid the transfer of GMO genes to other organisms of the environment; (2) the ban on dissemination of GMOs containing a gene that gives resistance to antibiotics; and (3) the civil responsibility of the person carrying out GMO dissemination. The EPP/ED and ELDR groups voted against the environment committee's amendments which covered these three aspects. The Parliament nonetheless insists that the validity of a first authorisation for dissemination or renewal should not exceed ten years. This authorisation should be the subject of prior and specific assessment of the different forms of environmental risk. With a view to facilitating surveillance, the localisation of the GMO developed should be noted in the public registers. The EP also calls for the introduction of provisions concerning the export of GMOs towards third countries. As far as the resistance to antibiotics is concerned, the Parliament adopts an amendment presented by German national Peter Liese (EPP/ED) which calls for surveillance of GMOs containing a gene that expresses resistance in order to identify and eliminate by 2005 all GMOs likely to have a harmful effect on human health and on the environment. The Parliament, moreover, introduced a provision which excludes medicinal products for human use from the scope of this directive.
After the vote, Commissioner Margot Wallström welcomed the contribution made by the EP to the establishment of a more balanced and more effective legal framework for the assessment of risks and the authorisation of GMOs. She felt that this vote allowed citizens' concerns to be met for the protection of health and the environment while guaranteeing the development of biotechnologies. She gave the Commission's support to amendments adopted by the EP, mainly concerning the date of 2005 for the "phasing out" of genes resistant to antibiotics. She remains, however, opposed to the exclusion of pharmaceutical products as well as to new obligations relating to exports.