GM
Crop Contamination Ban May Be Lifted
In EU
The
European Union will take a huge stride
tomorrow towards freeing up the
production of
GM crops when the European commission
proposes
allowing national governments to make
up their
own minds on whether to permit their
cultivation. In a move which aims to
resolve a
12-year deadlock that has resulted in a
virtual freeze on the approval of GM
farming,
the commission will propose allowing
pro-GM
states such as Spain and the
Netherlands to
increase production, while also
allowing
others such as Germany and Austria to
maintain
restrictions. The rare instance of
Brussels
handing back power to individual
nations will
likely present Britain’s government
with a
delicate decision; caught between a
robust GM
industry lobby and a vocal protest
movement.
While making it easier for states to
ban GM
crops, giving them the option of
citing
non-scientific grounds such as
socio-economic
or cultural reasons, Brussels is
expecting a
quid pro quo from opponents, that they
will
end what is seen as a strategy of
stalling
health and environmental approval by
the EU.