A controversial new law changing the approval process for genetically modified (GM) crops entering Europe will be officially passed today. A law designed to end decades-long deadlocks in the EU approval system, arising from entrenched positions on GM crops held by different governments, will be published in the EU’s Official Journal on Friday (13th March).  

image expired

The new legislation was signed off in the European Parliament in Strasbourg on Wednesday, and will enter into force in 20 days’ time. EU legislators have said the new rules are intended to help member states take decisions on growing GM crops at the national level, which EU health Commissioner Vytenis Andriukaitis said will “Allow a better expression of democratically elected governments' views.”

Though this law has passed where other ‘compromise’ measures failed, both pro- and anti-GM groups in Europe have criticised the law.

Earlier this month, Beat Späth, Director of agricultural biotechnology at EuropaBio, which lobbies in the interests of GM manufacturers said, “This license to ban cultivation of GM crops is a step backwards for the EU. It enables Member States to formally reject safe EU approved products, based on arbitrary and non-scientific reasons. Europe is already lagging behind the rest of the world when it comes to GM crop cultivation, denying our farmers the freedom to choose.”

However, earlier in the year, SNP MEPs Alyn Smith and Ian Hudghton criticised the new law as a "Trojan horse riddled with loopholes,” which would act in favour of biotech companies. Though the UK government is a fierce proponent of GM crops within Europe, the devolved governments of Scotland and Wales have pledged to remain GM free, in line with public opinion. The Scottish MEPs said Scotland’s position could be put at risk under the new law.

Campaigners at Greenpeace have also warned that the law offers inadequate protection for states wishing to pursue GM free agriculture.

The first crop likely to gain approval under the new system is DuPont Pioneer’s maize variety 1507, engineered to resist crop pests. The maize’s application had been stalled for over 10 years, until former Health Commissioner Tonio Borg said he was legally obliged to grant approval for the crop last year, following a ruling from the European Court.

Nine of the EU’s 28 member states have already banned cultivation of GM crops on their territory, though the legality of these bans has been challenged. The majority of EU member states voted against granting maize 1507’s approval in 2014, but the vote was carried out under old EU voting rules and so still passed.