Community | March 03, 2009 | 19 comments

EU environment ministers vote to uphold ban on Monsanto GM maize

source: http://www.iht.com/articles/2009/03/02/business/gmo.php

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JanforGore
European Union governments delivered a blow Monday to the biotechnology industry, allowing Austria and Hungary to maintain national bans on growing genetically modified crops from Monsanto.

The vote, taken by European environment ministers, could irritate the U.S. government, which has in the past complained to the World Trade Organization about obstacles to planting bioengineered crops.

The vote also was a blow to the European Commission, the EU executive arm. The commission has sought in recent years to ease the restrictions in Europe on gene-altered crops, in part to keep down the cost of animal feed.

Member states were "firm" and the "commission should take a close reading of the result," the French environment minister, Jean-Louis Borloo, said after the announcement in Brussels, according to Bloomberg News.

The market for genetically engineered crops is worth several billion dollars worldwide. Only one genetically altered crop is currently grown in Europe: a form of corn, called MON 810, produced by Monsanto and other companies.

In 2003, the United States, Argentina and Canada brought complaints about the EU's biotechnology policies at the WTO, which ruled in 2006 that a de facto ban on imports of genetically modified foods between 1984 and 2004 violated trade rules.

Since that ruling, the commission has required Austria to drop its ban on imports of genetically modified foods. But some other countries have maintained bans on imports and cultivation of such crops, and the United States still could impose punitive duties on the Europeans for continuing to block trade.

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Groups opposed to biotechnology said the vote was a signal to the commission to stop trying to win permission for the crops until it used more rigorous methods to prove that they are safe.

"The commission must now abandon its unpopular proposals once and for all and get down to the real work of making risk assessments that we can believe in," said Helen Holder, the coordinator for genetically modified organisms at Friends of the Earth Europe.
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19 comments // EU environment ministers vote to uphold ban on Monsanto GM maize

  • lamborghini
  • JanforGore
    • 0
      JanforGore  
    • Image

    • GM Science Exposed

      Please go to the dossier located at this link and read the evidence of these scientists.

      GM crops should be boycotted at all costs, and the USDA should heed the decision of the EU ministers and place a moratorium on all new crops and independent testing of all current crops. I simply cannot believe how this is going undetected by so many people.

      This is evil.

    • 3 years ago
  • Tayllerand
  • Tayllerand
  • csmonut
    • 0
      csmonut  

    • Picture me doing the "Bug Dance" as my boyfriend likes to call it, and singing, "Yea! for the EU and down with Monsanto!! :))))

    • 3 years ago
  • cool_monkey
    • 0
      cool_monkey  
    • Image

    • if you are unaware, look at this wikipedia article about monsanto. it is a ridiculous company.

      Vote them down, then repay the displaced farmers in India

    • 3 years ago
  • Ayahuasca2012
    • 0
      Ayahuasca2012  
    • Image

    • Monsanto is evil plain and simple. We need to fight them before they gain complete and total control of food supplies. Can you imagine what could happen?

    • 3 years ago
  • tommytripper
  • sweatmyhalyard
    • 0
      sweatmyhalyard  

    • I had to write a report on transgenic crops for an Entymology class I took last semester. Did you know that about 30% of tobacco, corn, and potato produced in the U.S. is transgenic? There is insufficient data to prove if transgenic crops are harmful or not, but Europe refuses to buy it from us, which means the guinea pigs are us! The motives of the corn industry are definitely not in the American people's best interests... And furthermore, transgenic crops pose SERIOUS threats to pollinator species (which are a fundamental part of biodiversity)

    • 3 years ago
  • Vierotchka
  • trut
  • darkhorsejim
    • 0
      darkhorsejim  

    • Let's hope the EU's victory vote is a wakeup call for Americans to give a serious look at what they're consuming all day long & the potential health consequences that follow from their choices - good & bad.

    • 3 years ago
  • aeo
  • masterzip
    • 0
      masterzip  

    • Frankenfood scares me,...
      afterall,..what is wrong w/ the apple or corn,..they way they are now? are they not delicious? are they not edible? What is so wrong w/ our food that we think it needs to be modified into somethign that may make us grow a 3rd arm?
      Isn't this messing w/ "gods intelligent design?"

    • 3 years ago
  • JanforGore
    • 0
      JanforGore  
    • masterzip:

      There is nothing wrong with it and we can plant plenty of it. Monsanto doesn't want to lose one dollar of profit regardless of how they make it. That is why this is such good news.

    • 3 years ago
  • JanforGore
  • JanforGore
    • 0
      JanforGore  

    • Any vote against transgenic contamination is a vote for sustainability and biodiversity. It will be interesting to see how the Obama administration handles this in regards to trade. You can bet Monsanto placed some phone calls yesterday.

    • 3 years ago
  • Matericia
  • JanforGore
    • 0
      JanforGore  
    • JanforGore:

      I don't have a phone number, but I do have an e-mail address for Secretary Vilsack at the USDA:

      AgSec@usda.gov

      Here is my note to him:

      Secretary Vilsack;

      Now that the EU environmental ministers have upheld the ban on Monsanto's MON810 maize, will the USDA be considering changing its policy regarding pushing GMOs through to consumers without going through the proper regulatory process? More and more independent sources are questioning the health and environmental effects of GM corn and soy, and calling for tests that adequately prove the safety of these organisms. I think this decision by the EU ministers should be the catalyst for the USDA to also demand independent testing and labelling of these organisms in our food supply. The transgenic contamination caused by these GMOs has also wrecked the livelihoods of many small farmers in America and abroad as well as biodiversity. To continue to put corporate profits before biodiversity and sustainability is not what I thought the USDA stood for. Please do what is right for the health and environmental safety of the American people.

      Thank you,
      ______

    • 3 years ago
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