EU to let member states decide on GMO approval

摘要

In mid-July, the European Commission plans to officially propose that the EU Council of Ministers and the European Parliament should allow member states the possibility of prohibiting - on all or part of their territory - the cultivation of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) approved at Community level.rnAt the same time, it will recommend strengthening the criteria agreed in its 2003 recommendation for coexistence between genetically modified, conventional and organic crops, in order to avoid the presence of GMOs in other products. In practice, this will boil down to authorising, under certain conditions, GMO-free regions if coexistence cannot be guaranteed at farm level. This initiative fulfils the political orientations established at the new Commission in September 2009 by its President, Jose Manuel Barroso, who aims to unblock the Union's decision making system for GMOs.