eurealist.co.uk

If this isn’t “dictatorship, I don’t know what is. Do they now read of the problems re growing GM seeds? Where are our “rights” to eat GM free foods?Anne
GM-free Zones
Mr. Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if she will make a statement on the powers of the EU Commission to overrule the wish of member states to declare GM-free zones or regions following the recent European Court decision. [20770]
Mr. Morley [holding answer 21 October 2005]: Under existing EU law, in order to declare a GM-free zone, that is a region where GM crops cannot be cultivated, a member state has to prove that there are special reasons 25 Oct 2005 : Column 200W to introduce national measures. Austria applied for a derogation from Directive 2001/18/EC to declare the region of Upper Austria a GM-free zone. However, the European Court of Justice ruled against this measure, as the Austrian Government failed to prove that the region of’ Upper Austria had a unique ecosystem which might justify a specific local risk assessment.
EU law, as agreed by EU member states, sets out procedures which allow an individual GM crop to be approved for cultivation throughout the whole of the EU only if a detailed assessment confirms that it does not pose an unacceptable risk to health or the environment. Under current EU law, as agreed by EU member states, the only legitimate grounds for narrowing the geographical scope of an approval to prevent cultivation in a defined zone are the production of clear evidence that the GM crop involved poses a particular risk to the specific area in question. In the Austrian case, the European Court of Justice found that Austria had not demonstrated the existence of any such risks to the region of Upper Austria.
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“I’ve sprayed my Roundup beans twice this summer and I can see maize still growing in the fields….. You know how life is supposed to go full circle? I’m back to hand-hoeing maize out of soyabean fields…. I got it [RR maize] and I never bought it!”Illinois FarmerFarmers Weekly, August 27- September 2, 2004

From Anne Palmer