Dismay as Europe supports ban on cultivation of GM crops

Despite the EU scientific advice to the contrary, MEPs voted in favour of the ban which will apply to all member states, including the United Kingdom – something bosses at the NFU say will mean further constraints on food production and security.

Environment Committee MEPs said member states should be allowed to disregard the EU’s current authorisation procedure – where the European Food Safety Authority makes the decision on GM safety – and make their own scientific assessment.

Under their proposal, countries would be able to use environmental grounds, such as pesticide resistance or invasiveness of crops, to bring in national bans – even if EFSA had already deemed concerns unfounded.

The vote was meant to toughen up proposals to allow member states to restrict or ban the cultivation of GM crops.

However Dr Helen Ferrier, the NFU’s Chief Scientific Adviser, said the MEPs were ignoring sound science.

“The European GM authorisation procedure is already the strictest and most highly scrutinised in the world. So the idea that member states would need to do their own scientific assessment seems to be less for scientific and more for political reasons,” said Dr Ferrier.

“We urge MEPs to have a sensible GM debate in Europe based on sound science. We have a huge global challenge to feed a population that is due to hit nine billion by 2050 while impacting less on the environment and tackling climate change.

“To achieve this we will need every single weapon in our armoury – and that includes GM crops that have been adapted to cope in dry conditions, need fewer pesticides or offer nutritional benefits.

“Of course, there needs to be a strong legal framework for approvals and effective co-existence measures to allow GM and non-GM systems to operate successfully together but these must be proportional to the need so that growers can retain their markets, and be based on the science.”

The news came in the same week that NFU president Peter Kendall warned that farmers will face increased volatility in the coming decade as market fundamentals adapt to an era of higher global demand and lack of long-term investment in agricultural production.