New EU agreement could pave way for GM crops

It will be published soon and could pass all major hurdles by the end of July, according to EC and agribusiness sources.

It would allow individual EU members to refuse permission to plant GM crops on a list approved by the majority. At the moment, any government going against the list would be risking legal action, one of the reasons why approvals have been so hard to get.

GM-free Austria suggested that making opt-outs legal would speed things up and some Greens – including the Soil Association – think it might work to their advantage. But Defra, under the last government and the new one, believes public opinion is on the side of some experimentation.

Only two GM crops have been approved for cultivation in the EU in 12 years – an insect-resistant maize, for southern Europe, in 1998, and a starch-rich potato called the Amflora, for industrial uses, in March this year. Seven years of argument over the Amflora ended in the usual deadlock but because there were no human health implications, health and safety commissioner John Dalli, from Malta, invoked his right to act on scientific advice when members could not agree. He also said he would review the system and he floated the Austrian idea in front of the European Parliament without major objections.

"Despite some unease about creating a precedent for opt-outs, there is recognition that the deadlock over GM has to be broken somehow," said a spokesman.

The Reuters news agency reported last week that Commissioner Dalli's review was about to bear fruit in the form of the Austrian compromise, which has been confirmed by EC sources in broad terms. However, they were reticent about the detail – because the detail is what could hold it all up.

Driffield farmer Paul Temple, a GM supporter who has done a lot of negotiating at European level for the NFU, summed up: "What happens when one country wants a crop but the country next door doesn't? What happens when your government will not let you grow it but you still want to import it?"

But Julian Little, a spokesman for UK biotechnology interests, said these difficulties already existed and could be sorted out.

The last UK government would have allowed much more GM – in the form of both seeds and imported produce – but was held back by the EU as a whole. It asked the Food Standards Agency to investigate public opinion but GM sceptics are claiming the investigation was skewed in favour of agribusiness from the start.

The new government is at least as GM-friendly as Labour and may use the row as an excuse to bypass the FSA inquiry.

Mr Temple said UK farmers would particularly like to be able to grow GM sugarbeet, which has been a huge success in the USA. He added that Romania was growing GM soya until it joined the EU and now has to pay extra to import it.

CW 12/6/10