The European Commission’s plans to equate the majority of plants produced using so-called new genetic engineering with normal breeding are meeting with widespread resistance. The criticism does not only come from Austria. This is now supported by a legal opinion commissioned by the German Greens. Equating genetically modified and conventionally bred plants would be contrary to EU and international law, the report says.
According to the experts, the plans would be incompatible with the precautionary principle enshrined in the Lisbon Treaty. The EU has also committed to carrying out individual risk assessments in the “Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety” before genetically modified organisms can be used. The European Commission’s proposal contradicts the EU’s self-imposed rules and international obligations, criticized the organization ARGE Gentechnik-frei. “If the Commission still wants to implement these plans, the Austrian federal government must exhaust all means, including legal means, to take action against them,” demanded Jens Karg of the NGO.
The majority of Austrians are against deregulation
According to a current study commissioned by the ARGE, Austrians would vote by a large majority against the planned deregulation, which is aimed, among other things, at the genetic scissoring process Crispr/Cas (see graph above). About 90 percent want mandatory labeling for products made from NGT, directly on food or feed.
“Rights of consumers, farmers and food sector sacrificed”
“The legal report shows: this deregulation proposal sacrifices the rights of consumers, farmers and the food sector – based on completely empty sustainability promises from the agricultural sector,” stressed GLOBAL 2000 genetic engineering spokeswoman Brigitte Reisenberger. This proposal would bury the precautionary principle and endanger the environment and biological diversity by introducing untested new genetic engineering products onto fields and plates.
Source: Krone
I’m Ben Stock, a journalist and author at Today Times Live. I specialize in economic news and have been working in the news industry for over five years. My experience spans from local journalism to international business reporting. In my career I’ve had the opportunity to interview some of the world’s leading economists and financial experts, giving me an insight into global trends that is unique among journalists.
