The setting-up of this website was financially
supported by the European
Union within the European Commission’s Sixth Framework Programme from
1 January 2005 until 28 February 2007.
The European Commission and other EU agencies are not responsible for the content.
|
See what’s what.
Please note that the GMO Compass Database currently is being expanded and updated. Please check back for new entries.
|
|
 |
News Messages |
| 12 April 2006 | | European Commission Releases New Plan to Address GMO Safety Concerns Raised by Member States | The European Commission released a statement today stating its willingness to accept more input from Member States regarding its safety assessments of genetically modified crops. A revised approach to assessing the safety of GMOs was the result of recommendations proposed by Health and Consumer Protection Commissioner Markos Kyprianou and Environment Commissioner Stavros Dimas.
The announcement comes shortly after individual Member States, led by Austria’s Agriculture and Environment Minister Josef Pröll, began placing pressure on the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) to be more attentive to objections from Member States. The new proposals aim to improve scientific consistency and transparency for safety evaluations in order to reassure Member States, stakeholders, and the general public that GMO safety evaluations in the EU sufficiently exclude risks to health and the environment.
Among the Commission’s proposals are to foster liaisons between EFSA and national scientific bodies and to explicitly state the reasons for dismissing safety concerns raised by national authorities. EFSA will be requested to place greater emphasis on addressing potential long term risks to the environment and to biodiversity. After EFSA has completed its safety assessment of a GMO, the Commission shall consider sending the case back for further clarification if scientific objections raised by Member States were to bring up new safety concerns.
The Commission will discuss its proposals with EFSA and with the Council of the European Union during the upcoming months. |
| 06 April 2006 | | Experts Gather in Vienna to Discuss Coexistence | The European Commission in association with the Austrian presidency of the European Union held a conference in Vienna entitled “Freedom of Choice” on the coexistence of genetically modified, conventional, and organic agriculture. The conference, which was held on the 4th to the 6th of April, was attended by over 600 politicians, biotechnology experts, farmers, and representatives of industry, consumer, and environmental protection groups.
According to EU agricultural commissioner Mariann Fischer-Boel, the purpose of the conference was not to discuss the potential risks and benefits of genetically modified crops, rather, stakeholders convened to exchange plans for implementing coexistence. Fischer-Boel defended the European Commission’s decision to leave the details of regulating coexistence up to individual Member States. According to the minister, agricultural systems and climatic conditions vary too greatly between different Member States and too little experience has been collected thus far to hand out regulations at the EU level. She compared the European Commission’s position on coexistence to an untrimmed Christmas tree – the European Commission provides the tree, and the Member States can decide for themselves how to decorate it.
While most Member States are still in the consultation stage, the Netherlands and Denmark have already implemented national coexistence regulations, which they presented to attendees at the conference.
Some opponents of GM crops, including Austrian environmental Minister Josef Pröll, call for the establishment of legally binding GMO-free zones. Environmental groups and organic farmer associations worry that strict thresholds for GMO admixture in organic crops are impossible to maintain when GM crops are grown in the vicinity. EU agricultural commissioner Fischer Boel, however, echoes the position of the European Commission, stressing that such zones can only exist if agreed upon by farmers. Futuragra, a group of Italian farmers, defended freedom of choice, expressing concerns that their denied access to agricultural biotechnology will hinder their competitiveness. |
|
|
XML News Feed
| Merge the latest news messages from GMO-Compass in shortened form onto your news reader or web log. | | GMO-Compass news feeds use XML formatting and require RSS 2.0 (really simple syndication). This standard format allows diverse applications to easily exchange and integrate data from the internet. |
|
March 2006
