Agreement to permit country-level bans of genetically modified plants should ease deadlocks in EU approval process.
After years of political deadlock and legal wrangling, the European Union appears to have reached a compromise on the approval process for the cultivation of genetically modified crops.
In the late hours of 3 December, representatives of member states and the EU Parliament hashed out an agreement to waive the principle that every member state honour EU approvals of GM crops. Instead, each member state will have the power to overrule EU approvals in their country. This means that EU approval of several GM crops that have been in limbo for years is now likely to now move forward.
Faced with opposition to GM food from some member states, the commission has delayed action on several crops for years. The application for a variety of maize (corn) known as Bt11, for instance, has languished on regulators’ desks since 1996.
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The European Commission will now introduce legislation to enshrine the right of member states to ban cultivation in their jurisdictions. This agreement has to be approved by the full EU Parliament and a separate committee of member-state representatives, but policy-watchers view it as likely to pass and to be in force by spring of 2015.
Read full original article: Compromise blooms in European GM crop debate
