European Greens Call for a Thousand GE-Free Zones

The Irish Times
April 23, 2004

Why Ireland Must Refuse the GMO Diktat:
Ireland Should Be One of Europe's 1,000 GM-Free Regions

by: Daniel Cohn-Bendit (German Member of European Parliament)

In one area in particular, the European Union is streets ahead of the United
States - Europe has taken the views of its citizens on genetic modification
seriously. While the US has for years followed a policy based on trial and
error, the EU has introduced, and, if we Greens have anything to do with it,
will continue to introduce legislation based on the precautionary principle.

Next week (April 27th-28th), agriculture ministers from the EU's 15 current
member-states will meet in Luxembourg under the Irish presidency to discuss
whether a strain of genetically modified sweetcorn (Bt11) should be allowed
to be sold in Europe. If this is approved, it will end the de facto
moratorium on the granting of licences for the sale of new genetically
modified organisms (GMOs) in the European market.

When this licence was discussed at council level, Ireland voted to approve
the new GM sweetcorn, despite Taoiseach Bertie Ahern's assertion in the Dail
that no decisions had been taken. The Green Group/EFA in the European
Parliament has written to the Taoiseach, to the European Commission
President, Romano Prodi, and to the 15 agriculture ministers who will vote
on this issue, urging them to listen once again to the views of Europe's
citizens. We have also urged them to consider serious scientific evidence
demonstrating that the safety of this sweetcorn is far from assured. This
letter and the supporting evidence is published on the Green/EFA group's
website at: www.greens-efa.org

In 1999 the European Council agreed to a moratorium on the licencing of all
new GMOs due to well-founded doubts about the public health and ecological
implications for both food and agriculture. At that time the Greens were
part of governments in France, Germany, Belgium and Italy.

The moratorium gave citizens, scientists and politicians the time and space
to analyse data more closely and create a legislative framework to protect
consumer choice and avert potential damage to the environment and public
health. From the experience of extensive cultivation of GMOs in the US we
now know that there are serious risks involved.

Meanwhile, the European Greens appeal to the EU to continue to support the
opinion of the vast majority of Europe's consumers - up to 80 per cent in
some surveys - who say 'No!' to GMOs.

The European Greens believe European legislation on genetic modification
must continue to be steered by the precautionary principle. If the EC
finally decides to permit the marketing of the first new GM products, then
the 'safety net' of labelling, traceability, and in particular, the issue of
co-existence between GM, organic and conventional crops, must be
strengthened.

Only if GM contamination in seeds and food is clearly labelled, and
threshold levels for detection are realistic, can consumers and farmers have
a real choice. Commissioner Byrne takes his cues from the biotech industry
on this issue and promotes maximum threshold levels for detection, in direct
opposition to his Commission colleagues for Agriculture, Franz Fischler, and
the Environment, Margot Wallstroem.

The directive on the voluntary dissemination of GMOs was strengthened in
European legislation in 2001, but 11 states have still not implemented it,
including Ireland, which will mean a creeping and uncontrollable spread of
future GMO licences.

Under this legislation, farmers who want to use an EU-authorised GMO will be
obliged to declare the use in public registers and will be collectively
responsible for economic damages to the harvests of adjoining fields caused
by contamination. A farmer whose crops become contaminated by GM pollen from
adjoining fields will in future have to declare that his or her products are
GM contaminated. For an organic farmer, this is a total financial disaster.

Consequently though, under the EU directive - which has not yet been adopted
by Ireland - even if the organic farmer cannot prove which of the neighbours
was responsible, he or she would be entitled to compensation from them. As a
result of this legislation, an interesting development has occurred in
Germany where professional agricultural organisations have now declared that
using GMOs in agriculture is of no economic benefit to them, and that it is
better to avoid them entirely so as to steer clear of unnecessary risks.

If we really believe that consumers should be able to make informed choices
and that the precautionary principle remains an integral part of EU
lawmaking, we have to continue fighting to mobilise citizens "for 1,000
GM-free regions".

The Irish Government and the Irish Commissioner are failing Irish and
European consumers with their stance on genetic modification. Our fight for
1,000 GM-free regions - and for Ireland to be one of them - is the best way
we can pressurise the Irish Government into following the example of
countries that refuse the GMO diktat.

Daniel Cohn-Bendit MEP is leader of the Greens/EFA group in the European
Parliament