GM Watch
  • Main Menu
    • Home
    • News
      • Newsletter subscription
      • Daily Digest
      • News Reviews
      • News Languages
    • Articles
      • GM Myth Makers
      • GM Reports
      • GM Quotes
      • GM Myths
      • Non-GM successes
      • GM Firms
        • Monsanto: a history
        • Monsanto: resources
        • Bayer: a history
        • Bayer: resources
    • Videos
      • Latest Videos
      • Must see videos
      • Cornell videos
      • Agriculture videos
      • Labeling videos
      • Animals videos
      • Corporations videos
      • Corporate takeover videos
      • Contamination videos
      • Latin America videos
      • India videos
      • Asia videos
      • Food safety videos
      • Songs videos
      • Protests videos
      • Biofuel myths videos
      • Index of GM crops and foods
      • Index of speakers
      • Health Effects
    • Contact
    • About
    • Donations
    • How donations will help us
News and comment on genetically modified foods and their associated pesticides    
  • News
    • Latest News
    • Newsletter subscription
    • News Reviews
    • News Languages
      • Notícias em Português
      • Nieuws in het Nederlands
      • Nachrichten in Deutsch
    • Archive
      • 2021 articles
      • 2020 articles
      • 2019 articles
      • 2018 articles
      • 2017 articles
      • 2016 articles
      • 2015 articles
      • 2014 articles
      • 2013 articles
      • 2012 articles
      • 2011 articles
      • 2010 articles
      • 2009 articles
      • 2008 articles
      • 2007 articles
      • 2006 articles
      • 2005 articles
      • 2004 articles
      • 2003 articles
      • 2002 articles
      • 2001 articles
      • 2000 articles
  • Articles
    • GM Myth Makers
    • GM Reports
    • How donations will help us
    • GM Quotes
    • GM Myths
    • Non-GM successes
    • GM Firms
      • Monsanto: a history
      • Monsanto: resources
      • Bayer: a history
      • Bayer: resources
  • Videos
    • Index of speakers
    • Glyphosate Videos
    • Latest Videos
    • Must see videos
    • Health Effects
    • Cornell videos
    • Agriculture videos
    • Labeling videos
    • Animals videos
    • Corporations videos
    • Corporate takeover videos
    • Contamination videos
    • Latin America videos
    • India videos
    • Asia videos
    • Food safety videos
    • Songs videos
    • Protests videos
    • Biofuel myths videos
    • Index of GM crops and foods
  • Contact
  • About
  • Donations
SUBSCRIBE TO REVIEWS

GMWatch Facebook cornfield banner

SCIENCE SUPPORTS REGULATION OF GENE EDITING

Plant tissue cultures

GENE EDITING: UNEXPECTED OUTCOMES AND RISKS

Damaged DNA on fire

GENE-EDITED CROPS & FOODS

Help stop the new threat

News Menu

  • Latest News
  • News Reviews
  • Archive
  • Languages

Please support GMWatch

Donations

You can donate via Paypal or credit/debit card.

Some of you have opted to give a regular donation. This is greatly appreciated as it helps place us on a more stable financial basis. Thank you for your support!

2006 articles

Ministers vote on GM bans

  • Print
  • Email
Details
Published: 18 December 2006
Created: 18 December 2006
Last Updated: 22 October 2012
Twitter

MINISTERS VOTE ON GMO BANS
Friends of the Earth Europe calls on member states to stand up to WTO ruling
Friends of the Earth Europe
PRESS RELEASE
For immediate release: 18th December 2006
http://www.foeeurope.org/press/2006/HH_18_Dec_Austia_ban.htm

Brussels 18 December 2006 - Friends of the Earth Europe has urged EU Environment Ministers to support Austria regarding its bans on genetically modified foods and crops (known as GM or GMOs). The ministers will vote today on a European Commission proposal to force Austria to lift the bans, tabled in response to the World Trade Organisation (WTO) ruling earlier this year that the bans broke international trade laws.

Helen Holder, GM Campaigner for Friends of the Earth Europe said:

"Every country must have the democratic right to protect its citizens and environment. Neither the European Commission or the World Trade Organisation should be allowed to force Europeans to eat genetically modified foods."

The WTO ruling did not rule against GMO bans per se but judged that Austria had not followed the risk assessments needed under the trade-friendly WTO rules. Austria, together with all EU member states, has ratified the UN’s Biosafety Protocol which allows countries to ban genetically modified crops (known as GM or GMOs) if there is a lack of scientific certainty over their safety. The WTO disregarded the Biosafety Protocol because the complainants in the trade dispute (the US, Canada and Argentina) had not ratified it.

Helen Holder continued:

"The WTO should not be deciding what we eat or what our farmers grow. The organisation is pro-free trade and pro-industry and is not suited to rule on disputes over the environment or public health. Environment Ministers must vote today in line with their commitments to protect the environment."

This is the second time since June 2005 that the European Commission has attempted to force member states to overturn national GMO safeguard clauses.

Friends of the Earth Europe will issue a press statement later today in reaction to the result of the Environment Council vote.

***

Helen Holder, GM Campainger at Friends of the Earth Europe :
Tel : +32 2 542 0182, Mobile +32 474 857 638, Email : This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Adrian Bebb, GM Campaigner at Friends of the Earth Europe:
Mobile : +49 1609 4901163, Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Rosemary Hall, Communications Officer at Friends of the Earth Europe:
Tel:+32 25 42 61 05, Mobile: +32 485 930515, Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Notes to editors

The WTO ruling was published on 29th September 2006 following the longest trade dispute in the WTO’s history. The ruling rejected most of the US-led complaints against Europe's stance on genetically modified (GM) foods:

* It refused to rule against the EU's strict regulations to control the use of GM food and crops;

* It refused to rule on whether GM foods are safe or different to conventional foods;

* It rejected US claims that moratoria are illegal and did not question the right of countries to ban GM foods or crops.

However, the WTO draft ruling did rule that Europe's four year GM moratorium, which ended in 2004, broke trade rules by causing "undue delays", but stated that moratoria were acceptable under certain circumstances. The WTO said national GM bans also broke trade rules, because the risk assessments did not comply with the WTO requirements.

Most of the GMO bans at the centre of the dispute are now irrelevant as most of the products banned are no longer on the market. Austria however upholds it bans on Monsanto’s MON810 maize and Bayer T25 maize which are still marketed today.

  • Prev
  • Next

Menu

Home

News

News Archive

News Reviews

Videos

Articles

GM Myth Makers

GM Reports

GM Myths

GM Quotes

How Donations Will Help Us

Contacts

Contact Us

About

Facebook

Twitter

RSS

Content 1999 - 2021 GMWatch.
Web Development By SCS Web Design