... in
the ongoing war between states and corporations
From
Reuters:
|
Monsanto
said it would abide by Latvia's and Greece's requests under a new
EU opt-out law to be excluded from its application to grow a
genetically modified (GM) crop across the European Union, but
accused them of ignoring science. Under a law signed in March
individual countries can seek exclusion from any approval request
for GM cultivation across the EU. While the European Commission is
responsible for approvals, requests to be excluded also have to be
submitted to the company making the application.
[...]
France
and Germany have said they are opposed to GM cultivation, and
while Britain is in favour, the Scottish government is against.
The EU law has riled the GM industry and the United States, which
wants Europe to open its doors fully to U.S. GM crops as part of a
planned EU-U.S. free trade deal. In a statement on Thursday, the
European Commission confirmed that so far only Latvia and Greece
had asked for opt-outs from Monsanto's request to continue to grow
MON810.
[...]
On
Thursday, environmental campaigners urged other nations to follow
the example of Latvia and Greece. Friends of the Earth Europe also
circulated letters showing the European Commission is examining
rules for imports of products with trace levels of GM and had
requested the expert opinion of the European Food Safety
Authority. In a statement on Thursday, the Commission said its
zero-tolerance policy against non-authorised GM products remains
in place and it was simply seeking advice on "a scientific
question" unrelated to trade negotiations with the United
States.
|
This
is a significant victory for Greece and Latvia in the ongoing war
between states and corporations who seek open markets in full
deregulation to avoid any control. The battle will be hard and will
be continued.
Despite the statement by the Commission about its
zero-tolerance policy, the Corporate Europe Observatory reported that
"Commission has made various attempts to meet demands from
the biotech industry to facilitate their business. One attempt
concerned the import of crops containing traces of illegal GMOs. In
2011, the Commission proposed to abandon the EU’s so-called
‘zero-tolerance policy’ regarding contamination with
non-authorised GMOs." [fa.ev/totally-dominant-lobbies]
Lobbyists will come back and exercise further pressure
against any border restrictions for the products. All the TTIP type
agreements contain this as primary goal. States will have to continue
the fight.
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