EU Countries Granted the Right to Ban GMO Crops | Environment News Service.
A political agreement on new legislation to allow EU member states to restrict, or ban, the cultivation of crops containing genetically modified organisms, GMOs, on their own territory, even if it is allowed at EU level, was reached by Parliament and Council delegations last night.
Starting next spring, member states will be able to ban GMOs stating environmental policy objectives as a justification. These objectives would relate to environmental impacts other than the risks to health and environment assessed during the scientific risk assessment.
Bans could also include groups of GMOs designated by crop or trait. GMO crops in Europe include: corn, soy, sugar beet and rapeseed, among others.
Speaking for the Italian Presidency of the EU, Italy’s Environment Minister Gian Luca Galletti said, “With the agreement in principle reached between the Council, the Commission and the EU Parliament in Brussels we are approaching a great European goal under the Italian Presidency: the recognition of sovereignty and autonomy of the single States as regards the cultivation of GMOs.”
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