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Monday, March 21, 2005

'Euro crop co-existence legally flawed,' say Soil Association

As European Commissioners gather to debate the future of Genetically Modified (GM) crops and food tomorrow, environment and consumer representatives have exposed an EC Recommendation guiding member states on GM crops, as legally and fundamentally flawed. The NGOs are calling for the Recommendation to be withdrawn and are calling for an urgent meeting to discuss its legal status and content.

Paul Lasok QC, a leading European Lawyer, was asked by Which?, Friends of the Earth, The Soil Association, Greenpeace, the Five-Year Freeze Campaign and GeneWatch UK to advise on the EC Recommendation on the growing of GM crops alongside non-GM and organic crops.

The Recommendation says that such co-existence measures should not go further than to keep GM contamination of non-GM and organic crops below the threshold set down in European GM labelling legislation, currently 0.9 per cent. It also says that measures should ignore environmental concerns and be limited to economic issues. If member states put in place measures, like separation distances, based on this guidance, widespread GM contamination of crops and food is likely to occur.

However, the legal opinion condemns the EC position as 'fundamentally flawed' and criticizes the UK Government for following this approach, which has no basis in community legislation and is legally incorrect. The opinion concludes:

'This legal opinion destroys the European Commission's position on GM crop co-existence with non-GM crops,' says Friends of the Earth's GM campaigner, Clare Oxborrow. 'Countries around Europe are already putting in place laws to control contamination from GM crops, but they are being misguided by flawed advice. There is a growing movement for GM free areas in Europe, and consumer demand for GM-free food remains as strong as ever. The Commission must now ditch its misleading guidance and replace it with tough, EU-wide laws that will truly protect our choice for GM-free food, our health and the environment from the threat of GM crops.'

At today's meeting in Brussels, European Commissioners will discuss GMO policy, current applications for the import of GM food and the national bans on GMOs in Austria, France, Greece and Italy.

'One reason consumers choose organic food is to avoid eating GM products, yet the European Commission is trying, we believe illegally, to impose rules that could mean almost one in every hundred mouthfuls of organic food was actually GM food, with no requirement to tell people what they are really eating,' says Peter Melchett, Policy Director of The Soil Association.

If you would like to know more about GM foods, comtact Peter Melchett at the Soil Association, on: 07740 951066

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