Commission
proposals on GMO cultivation bans fail to solve problems of GMO-free food
sector
Brussels, 13/07/2010 - Today the Commission published a
proposal that gives member states more possibilities to ban GMO cultivation
on their territory – but clearly this is an attempt of the Barroso
Commission to persuade member states to facilitate and accept GMO authorisations.
"Whereas
some work has been done to improve the texts in the last weeks, these proposals
are no adequate response to the contamination problems the European
food sector is already facing today," comments Christopher Stopes,
President of the IFOAM EU Group1. "On the contrary,
with this proposal Commission President Barroso
wants to satisfy critical Member States and aims to further accelerate GMO
approvals. If this strategy were to succeed, the GMO free food sector would
have to struggle even more with GMO contamination problems."
"Especially
in Spain, many farmers had to give up growing maize as they could not deliver
the GMO free quality anymore," adds Victor Gonzalvez,
Spanish Board Member of the IFOAM EU Group. "Huge economic damage
has been reported throughout the food chain related to GMO contamination2,
but also related to the prevention of contamination, which still has to
be paid by those who want to remain GMO-free. The present proposal enables
voluntary measures in some Member States only, but does not provide
a solution for the GMO free food sector throughout the EU. Europe-wide,
legally binding rules that effectively prevent contamination, and the implementation
of ‘the polluter pays’ principle for GMOs must be established to relieve
the organic and conventional GMO-free sector of this economic burden."
"President
Barroso has always shown himself to be in favour
of faster GMO approvals - despite the fact that the majority of EU citizens
reject GMOs on their plates and on their farms, so they clearly reject GMO
releases into the environment", criticises John Portelli, Maltese
Board Member of the IFOAM EU Group. “With these proposals, the Commissioner
in charge, Mr. Dalli, serves Barroso's wish to
'break the deadlock' over GMOs. We are in favour of strengthening the right
of Member States to stay GMO free– but not at the expense of more GMO approvals
and not with complete disregard of cross-border contamination problems.
Member States must take their citizens seriously and must finally insist
to base all EU decisions regarding GMOs on precaution3,
prevention of contamination and care for health and environment."
More information:
IFOAM
EU Group, phone + 32-2-280 12 23, Fax: +32-2-735 73 81,
info@ifoam-eu.org, www.ifoam-eu.org
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NOTES:
(1)
The
IFOAM EU Group represents more than 300 member organisations of IFOAM
(International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements) in the EU-27,
the EU accession countries and EFTA. Member organisations include: consumer,
farmer and processor associations; research, education and advisory organisations;
certification bodies and commercial organic companies.
(2)
Publications about economic costs of GMO contamination and
prevention in the food sector:
- Economic impacts of labelling thresholds for the adventitious presence
of genetically engineered organisms in conventional and organic seed, study
published by IFOAM EU Group 2009: http://www.ifoam.org/about_ifoam/around_world/eu_group-new/positions/publications/pdf/IFOAMEU_GMO-freeSeedStudy.pdf
- Schadensbericht Gentechnik,
Bund Ökologische Lebensmittelwirtschaft
(Hrsg.) 2009: http://www.boelw.de/uploads/media/BOELW_Schadensbericht_Gentechnik090318.pdf
- Testimonies of Contamination, published by Greenpeace 2009: http://www.greenpeace.org/raw/content/international/press/reports/testimonies-of-contamination.pdf
- Bello A; Porcuna JL; Gonzálvez
V; Fabeiro C. 2007. Organic Farming integrity
in maize cultivation in Spain. In: Stein AJ & Rodríguez-Cerezo
E (2007). Third International Conference on Coexistence between Genetically
Modified (GM) and non-GM based Agricultural Supply Chains. Seville 20-21st
of November 2007 (Book of abstracts) 373-374pp. Edited by IPTS-JRC European
Commission
(3)
The
IFOAM EU Group has outlined more specific demands with its Malta Declaration,
see: http://www.ifoam-eu.org/news/pdf/IFOAMEU_GMfree_MaltaDeclaration_22.10.2010.pdf
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Malta Organic Agriculture Movement (MOAM) is a totally independent and voluntary organisation set up in November 1999 to promote Organic Agriculture in Malta. Its members include farmers, consumers, technical people and many others who have the local natural environment at heart. The primary aims of MOAM is to inform the public about Organic Agriculture, share and disseminate ideas and methods for Organic Agriculture, organise the necessary training, represent those who embrace organic principles both locally (in parliamentary circles, administration and policy making) as well as internationally, follow closely the developments in this field, set up and update Organic Agriculture standards for Malta and co-ordinate product certification.
Our Mission
To be a dynamic movement in safeguarding the well-being of the rural development by sustainable farming methods. Moreover , the NGO acts as a pressure group to promote organic production , protects and forbids cruelty to animals , opposes GMOs and in coordination with other environmental bodies and NGOs works towards quality environment enrichment.
Our Objectives
MOAM works to educate and disseminate knowledge to all those who are willing to apply organic production methods.
As an NGO, it strives to eliminate the negative externalities and enhance positive externalities.
Certification and standards are of top priority to both consumers and organic producers.
Marketing of organic products must be improved so that justice be made with the organic producers as very often their products are dumped.
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Short Term Objectives
To educate and enrol as many as possible farmers to reach the 200 Tumuli of Organic Certified land to meet better the current growing demand for organic products.
Long Term Objective
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