EP's agriculture committee opposes national bans on imports of GM food and feed

The European Parliament's (EP) agriculture committee on Thursday rejected the European Commission's draft law that would give European Union (EU) member states the power to restrict or prohibit the use of EU-approved genetically modified (GM) food or feed on their territory.

It fears that arbitrary national bans could distort competition on the EU's single market and jeopardize the EU's food production sectors which are heavily dependent on imports of GM feed, said the press release of the EP.

The agriculture committee's opinion, adopted by 28 votes in favor to eight against, with six abstentions, would be scrutinized by the environment committee, which has the lead on this file, before the Parliament as a whole votes on the matter.

"Today's vote in the agriculture committee sends a clear message: the Commission's proposal to allow member states to decide whether or not to restrict or ban the use of GM food and feed on their territory must be rejected. We have not been building the EU's single market to let arbitrary political decisions distort it completely," said the draftsman of the opinion, Albert Dess.

The environment committee, the lead committee for this draft law, would adopt its position at its meeting on October 12 and 13.

The European Parliament would then scrutinize the proposal at the October 26-29 plenary session. Endit