Warsaw - Poland's parliament has passed a law which removes genetically modified seeds from a national register, effectively banning their sale, an official said Friday.

"This should be interpreted as a ban on the sale in Poland of genetically modified seeds," Wojciech Mojzesowicz, head of parliament's agriculture commission, told AFP.

But according to Poland's European affairs ministry, such a ban goes against European Union directives. Poland joined the EU in May 2004.

The law has to be endorsed by President Lech Kaczynski before it takes effect.

Around 76 percent of Polish consumers are against genetically modified organisms, according to a poll conducted by the international environmental activist group Greenpeace. - Sapa-AFP