Back

"New Europe" blocks U.S. food import
Confidential study casts doubt on GM food safety

Results :
For: 43 votes (Belgium, Czech Republic, Finland, France, Netherlands. Latvia, Portugal, Slovakia, Sweden)
Against: 57 votes (Austria, Cyprus, Denmark, Estonia, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Malta, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Poland, UK)
Abstentions: 24 votes (Germany, Ireland, Spain, Slovenia)

Brussels, 16 June 2004 - European Member states have today blocked the approval of a genetically modified (GM) food from the biotech giant Monsanto. The twenty five member states of Europe, voting together for the first time on a GM food, failed to support the application to import Monsanto's GM oilseed rape into Europe. Remarkably 6 new EU member states voted against Monsanto's oilseed rape. The application will now go back to the European Commission who must decide whether to push for a vote by Ministers or not.

The GM oilseed rape, called GT73, has been modified to resist the company's own chemical herbicide. The vote was the first test for the newly expanded EU following the European Commission's decision last month to force through the first GM food in over 5 years (1). The result will be closely watched by the US Government who have started a trade
dispute in the World Trade Organisation (WTO). US officials have recently stated that "the approval of a single product does not affect our WTO challenge, .[the lifting of the moratorium] does not indicate there is a consistently functioning approval process". (2)

In the run up to today's vote Friends of the Earth revealed that:

• A Monsanto feeding study on rats that was hidden from the public showed that rats fed the GM oilseed rape had a 15 % increase in liver weights. The UK Governments scientific advisors, usually known for their pro-GM stance, have demanded "a satisfactory explanation for this potentially adverse response observed in the rat feeding study.".(3)
• Monsanto has failed to satisfy some member states over the possibility that the imported oilseed rape seeds will escape into the environment (through spillage during transport for example) and create feral populations. The UK authorities have repeatedly called on Monsanto to produce an adequate monitoring plan and an emergency plan should it occur. (3)

Geert Ritsema, GMO Coordinator for Friends of the Earth Europe said:
"This is an important result for "New Europe". This vote shows that the US cannot count on the new member states to follow their policies in the area of genetically modified food. Member States have put the safety of European citizens and their environment before the financial interests of biotech giants like Monsanto and their friends in the White House.
The European Commission should now follow suit and reject GM foods until their safety can be proven."

NOTES TO EDITORS

1. On 19th May the European Commission approved the import of a GM sweet corn after sufficient Member States failed to support it. This was the first new product authorised in Europe since 1998.
2. Statement by US trade spokesperson Christopher Padilla, New York Times, 15 May 2004, "Europeans Appear Ready To Approve A Biotech Corn"
3. Advisory Committee on Release to the Environment (ACRE), http://www.defra.gov.uk/environment/acre/advice/pdf/acre_advice36.pdf

CONTACT

Geert Ritsema, Friends of the Earth Europe - mobile +31 (0)6 290 05 908
Adrian Bebb, Friends of the Earth Europe - mobile +49 (0)1609 490 1163

 

Friends of the Earth Europe campaigns for sustainable and fair societies and for the protection of the environment,
unites more than 30 national organisations with thousands of local groups
and is part of the world's largest grassroots environmental network, Friends of the Earth International.