EU politicians have just hacked down the invention that could beat hunger and poverty
A GM crop has been cut down by EU ministers.
Earlier this week, news came that European ministers were about to decide on whether to sanction the cultivation of a new for of GM maize in the EU.
At the meeting in Brussels, 19 of the EU’s 28 opposed approval of the insect-resistant Pioneer 1507.
Following the vote, a letter’s landed on the desk of European health commissioner Tonio Borg, from ministers across 12 EU countries, asking him not to approve the maize.
The letter, seen by Reuters, insists the level of opposition would not give way to approval under most democratic decision-making processes – sticking the maize between cultural censure and procedural dispute.
Borg says he’s legally bound to approve the crop. Under EU voting rules, the majority was not enough to mean rejection, so the decision now goes to the European Commission, which has not specified when it’ll make one.
The letter is signed by European and foreign affairs ministers from Austria, Bulgaria, Cyprus, France, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Poland and Slovenia, reports Reuters.
So in a bid which could lead to a compromise, the Commission is going back to another proposal on GM cultivation, which would allow member states to choose whether or not to ban GM crops.
The Commission has confirmed that, after lengthy scientific research, the maize in question is safe.
Countries that support it – which includes Britain – have warned that EU farmers could lag behind peers on other continents which have embraced GM.
But GM remains stubbornly unpopular in Europe. The total of other GM crops approved for cultivation stands at two: another strain of maize and a potato. The maize was, however, blocked at a later date.
In addition to the nutritional, cost and pathogen resistance benefits that GM can bring, approval of the Pioneer 1507 would mean the beginning of a challenge to the dominance of Monsanto – the US chemical and agricultural giant – of the small European GM market.
World Food Prize laureate Marc van Montagu, spoke earlier this week to the Times of India about the benefits of GM. He said: "I believe that 21st century plants will be GM plants that will fight hunger, poverty, and save the planet."