EU member states' right to ban GMOs upheld
EU member states' right to ban GMOs upheld
An EU member state must have the right to ban genetically modified maize. This view prevailed during yesterday's meeting of the Council of Environment Ministers. The European Commission was looking, with the support of the Netherlands' environment minister Jacqueline Cramer - a Labour member of the governing coalition – to rap Austria and Hungary on the knuckles. Both countries have concluded that such maize presents a risk to human health and the environment and for that reason wanted to maintain their ban. They have now won the right to continue to exclude Monsanto and Bayer products in question.
"I agree completely with Greenpeace that this is a victory for the environment, for farmers and consumers. The European Commission should have learnt that not everything revolves around the interests of the market and of commerce, but that social concerns regarding genetically modified food are also relevant," commented Kartika Liotard, Member of the European Parliament for the SP.