Brussels, 11/01/2006 (Agence Europe) - The European Commission is ordering Greece to lift its ban on the farming of 17 varieties of genetically modified maize, MON 810, produced by giant US multinational Monsanto. The decision was taken on Tuesday using the written procedure because Greece has failed to supply new evidence justifying its ban on GMOs authorised in the EU since 1998 and farmed in another Member State, Spain. The inclusion in September 2004 of the 17 varieties of genetically modified maize in question on the EU common list of authorised arable crops and farm vegetables have the go-ahead for the legal marketing of the maize under the safeguard clause of EU seed legislation (Directive 2002/53, Article 18). Greece argued that there were no EU rules to prevent the contamination of conventional and organic crops from genetically modified crops. In July 2005, the relevant regulatory body considered the European Commission's request that Greece lift its ban, but the committee failed to reach the required majority to either approve or reject the Commission's request. The decision therefore returned to the Commission for it to decide. Asked by reporters about the motivation for the Commission's decision, Michael Mann (spokesperson for EU Agriculture Commissioner Mariann Fischer-Boel) said Greece had failed to prove the existence of new risks.
Environmental organisation Greenpeace is furious, explaining that Monsanto had been given authorisation to market MON 810 under Directive 90/220/EEC, but this directive was superseded in 2002 and the maize does not meet the requirements of the new legislation. The Commissioner at the time, David Byrne, claimed the contrary. Eric Gall, GMO policy advisor to Greenpeace, said: 'By overruling the Greek government's attempt to protect its fields from contamination by this GM maize, the Commission is showing its contempt for the majority of EU citizens and 165 regions that say they do not want GMOs. The Commission lied when it told Member States that this GM maize met the legal requirements for cultivation: this GMO was evaluated in 1998 under legislation which was superseded in 2002.' Greenpeace states that the monitoring plan supplied by Monsanto in 1995 'does not include measures to detect environmental impacts of growing the crop, as required under Directive 2001/18,' since it only includes measures to monitor the impact of MON 810 on insects rather than the overall environmental impact.
Two other Member States have taken similar measures to Greece in order to protect crops from contamination by genetically modified material - Hungary in January 2005 (under Directive 2001/18/EC on environmental protection because of the impact of MON 810 on various species of butterfly) and Poland in March 2005 under the Seed Directive.