GMO or transgenic means Genetically Modified Organism. This is the name given to any organism whose genetic material has been transformed in a way that escapes natural methods of multiplication or combination. The transformation was carried out using a technology known as genetic manipulation or genetic modification.
The European Commission’s proposal on new GMOs (genetically modified organisms) and amendments backed today by the European Parliament’s Environment Committee risk violating the rights of farmers and consumers, according to a new legal analysis from Greenpeace .
The proposed law does not provide sufficient protection against contamination of crops with new GMOs or transgenics, which are obtained using so-called new genomic techniques (NGS).
Decades of progress in the EU on farmers’ rights and the protection of human health and the environment must not be abandoned for the profits of the biotech industry,” said Eva Corral, coordinator of the Greenpeace campaign on GMOs in the EU.
Safety measures do not hinder innovation, nor do the current rules that apply to GMOs or transgenics. European legislation does not prohibit research and development: it aims to ensure that the products developed do not violate the rights of European citizens to health and environmental protection.
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Greenpeace warns that the GMO law could violate a large number of EU constitutional laws.
Greenpeace’s legal analysis shows that, if adopted, the law could violate a wide body of European constitutional law, including several articles of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU) and the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights, because rules on safety checks, labelling and traceability are removed or weakened.
It could also violate farmers’ fundamental rights to property and freedom of enterprise, because it does not provide sufficient protection against contamination of crops by new or genetically modified organisms.
Currently, new or genetically modified organisms are covered by existing EU legislation on genetically modified organisms, and all genetically modified organisms are subject to safety, traceability and labelling checks.
The German Federal Agency for Nature Conservation (BfN) has warned that new or genetically modified organisms have a risk potential that is similar to, or even greater than, that of conventionally engineered plants.
More recently, the French National Agency for Food, Environmental and Occupational Health Safety (ANSES) stated that gene editing techniques “may lead to changes in the biological functions of plants, which are not taken into account in the Commission’s Category 1 proposal, and that risks to health and the environment cannot be excluded”. The example of the United States shows that deregulation does not accelerate market access for new or existing GMOs. After a decade of deregulation, very few GMOs have been commercialized and those that have been have not lived up to their sustainability promises.
Furthermore, many new genetically modified plants being developed are not designed for sustainability purposes, but to increase their market value for the food industry, for example by improving their appearance. There are even examples of new or GMOs failing on the market, such as genetically modified Calyxt soy.
Following today’s vote in the Environment Committee, the full European Parliament is expected to vote on the bill in February. EU governments are also trying to reach an agreement on the Commission’s proposal, after a deal was rejected in December.