Brussels, 08/12/2003 (Agence Europe) - After postponing its 10 November decision, the Permanent Committee of EU Member States' experts proved unable to decide on 8 December whether imports of genetically modified maize produced by the Syngenta company (BT-11 maize) should be authorised. The dossier now goes to Agriculture Council or the Environment Council, which will decide on the issue by qualified majority voting in a Council meeting in the next three months. If no agreement is reached, the matter will return to the Commission at the end of the three months and the Commission will itself decide next spring, whether BT-11 can be marketed from April 2004 onwards.
Member States strongly disagree on the issue. COREPER on Monday did not manage to achieve the qualified majority required since only six Member States voted in favour (33 votes: Finland, Sweden, Ireland, the UK, the Netherlands and Spain), with six voting against (29 votes: Greece, Denmark, France, Austria, Luxembourg and Portugal) and three abstaining (25 votes: Belgium, Italy and Germany). This decision is symbolic for the future of genetically modified organisms in Europe since authorising BT-11 would end the embargo launched by the EU five years ago. The Commission has come out in favour of scrapping the embargo since clear and detailed labelling rules, in its view, justify lifting barriers to G M food although the majority of EU consumers are unhappy about GM food and it is criticised by ecological organisations.
The NGO Friends of the Earth, for example, hails the Member States for resisting any lifting of the moratorium, seeing this as a victory for good sense and public safety. FoE lists three main reasons for boycotting genetically modified maize: 1) the new labelling and traceability rules have not come into force yet; and 2) the proposal to authorise the import of BT-11 short-circuits the GMO authorisation process (which is more detailed and includes a surveillance process following any authorisation to detect potential health side effects; 3) vital safety issues have not yet been looked into. Geert Ritsema of FoE hopes the new move will make the Commission think twice. She commented: " The public doesn't want to eat GM foods and question marks remain over its safety. The Commission must put the well-being of European citizens and their environment before the business interest of the US government and the biotech industry". Greenpeace commented, "the fact that this GMO has to be labelled and is unlikely ever to arrive on the market because of rejection by consumers does not justify speeding up its authorisation on the basis of inadequate safety test and mediocre quality tests. Consumers don't want to be treated like laboratory animals", explained Eric Gall for Greenpeace.