Brussels vote could open door to GM crops in UK

British farmers could soon be given the right to grow genetically modified crops commercially following a landmark vote in Brussels.

The European Parliament votes on Tuesday (13 January) on a proposal to give member states more flexibility to grow GMs in their own territory.

In Europe, GM crops are subject to some of the toughest food regulations in the world and their cultivation is only allowed following a thorough risk assessment.

See also: MEPs vote to allow countries to ban GM crop cultivation

Currently, only one GM crop – Monsanto’s insect-resistant maize MON810 – is grown commercially in the EU. No modified crops are grown commercially in the UK.

“GM crops could provide UK farmers with the potential for expanding markets and meeting the challenge of feeding an ever growing population in a sustainable way. Restricting ourselves from doing this is an outdated and backward step.”
Meurig Raymond, NFU president

On Tuesday, MEPs will debate and then vote on a motion to allow member states more flexibility to restrict or prohibit the cultivation of GMs.

It is expected that the option of imposing a national ban will break the stalemate between pro- and anti- GM nations within the EU, allowing GM crop applications to be approved more quickly.

Speaking at the Oxford Farming Conference, Defra secretary Liz Truss said British farmers should be allowed to grow GM crops if they wished to do so.

“I want to see the decision-making over GM crops made at a UK level,” Ms Truss told delegates.

“I do think they have a role to play here in Britain. I think our farmers need access to the technology that’s going to help them compete in global markets.”

However, Scottish rural affairs secretary Richard Lochhead said he didn’t want to see GM crops grown in Scotland because it risked jeopardising the country’s reputation as a “clean, green food country”.

The Welsh government is opposed to growing GM crops in Wales.

NFU president Meurig Raymond told the Daily Telegraph: “If the European Parliament adopts the text currently tabled, it is supporting unscientific, emotional and politicised arguments and justifications for banning an agricultural technology within a single market.

“GM crops could provide UK farmers with the potential for expanding markets and meeting the challenge of feeding an ever growing population in a sustainable way. Restricting ourselves from doing this is an outdated and backward step.”

However, anti-GM lobby groups urged the UK government to keep the country GM free. Peter Melchett, policy director at the Soil Association, said: “The EU proposal fails to require countries to ensure that any GM crops grown will not contaminate GM-free farms, nor to ensure that the cost of any contamination will fall on the shoulders of the GM companies who own the patented products, not on farmers or food businesses that suffer from pollution.

“This directive offers no meaningful protection to people who want to make informed choices about what they are eating or to farmers who want to protect their fields from the superweeds and biodiversity loss associated with the kind of GM crops likely to be heading our way.”
Liz O’Neill, GM Freeze

“The rights of farmers who do not wish to grow GM crops, particularly in England, are therefore under threat by this proposal. Indeed, the entire organic sector, growing rapidly in Europe and which may double by 2020, is in danger – as are the rights of anyone who wants to buy GM-free foods. This is because experience from the USA has shown that growing GM crops leads to agricultural seeds and food supply chains being contaminated by GM.

GM Freeze director Liz O’Neill said: “Contamination incidents all over the world show that seed and pollen will spread wherever the wind, wildlife and human error take them, right along the supply chain.

“This directive offers no meaningful protection to people who want to make informed choices about what they are eating or to farmers who want to protect their fields from the superweeds and biodiversity loss associated with the kind of GM crops likely to be heading our way.

“There are no EU-wide mandatory measures to prevent contamination within an individual member state and no rules governing liability. That means it’s down to the UK government to protect our right to grow and eat GM free.”