TTIP – current EU GMO rules to be ‘disregarded’ as EU Commission caves in to US pressure
A joint report conducted by Greenpeace, Corporate Europe
Observatory and Gene Watch UK issued a briefing paper last week entitled
“Commission fails to regulate new GMOs after intense US lobbying.”
In essence, the European Commission
has effectively deserted its principles when it comes to GMO’s entering
the food chain within the 28 nation bloc. Intense lobbying by United
States representatives for the EU Commission to disregard current GMO
rules which require stringent safety tests and labelling has proved
successful. The result is that genetically modified organisms produced
through a modified technique called ‘gene editing’ will be allowed. Gene
editing is all but the same as anything we understand about GMO’s
generally.
Freedom of Information documents show the scale of US lobbying has
overwhelmed the EU Commission who now stand accused of bowing to US
pressure and abdicating to the corporations and rejecting citizen
concerns. The documents reveal that US representatives pushed for the EU
to disregard its own GMO rules on the basis that the EU were simply
putting up barriers and stifling trade under the proposed TTIP
negotiations. The papers state that the EU should completely ignore
health and environmental safeguards to pave the way for successful
negotiations.
On the EC website
the very first paragraph reads: “The European Union has established a
legal framework to ensure that the development of modern biotechnology,
and more specifically of GMOs, takes place in safe conditions.”
In the EU’s GMO directive/2001/18 the
Directive clearly states: (clause 10)”For a comprehensive and
transparent legislative framework, it is necessary to ensure that the
public is consulted by either the Commission or the Member States during
the preparation of measures and that they are informed of the measures
taken during the implementation of this Directive” and (clause 19) “A
case-by-case environmental risk assessment should always be carried out
prior to a release. It should also take due account of potential
cumulative long-term effects associated with the interaction with other
GMOs and the environment.”
In addition, the GMO Directive is quite clear on one thing (clause 23): “No
GMOs, as or in products, intended for deliberate release are to be
considered for placing on the market without first having been subjected
to satisfactory field testing at the research and development stage in
ecosystems which could be affected by their use.”
