MEPs on the European Parliament's Environment Committee have backed a proposal to relax rules on genetically modified crops developed using so-called new genomic technologies (NGT).
This drew sharp criticism from environmental groups, writes AP.
The European Parliament is now expected to vote on the proposed law during a plenary session from February 5-8 before starting negotiations with member states that disagree on the issue.
This month, 37 Nobel laureates and other scientists called on EU lawmakers to support new genomic technologies and push back against dark fear-mongering about science.
Current legislation gives environmentalists confidence that the EU will not become a free space for multinational agricultural corporations to mass produce GMOs and sell products to the EU's 450 million people without detailed labeling and warnings.
Lawmakers agreed to create two different categories and two sets of rules for genetically modified crops produced with NGT.
Those that can be considered equivalent to conventional crops would be exempt from GMO legislation, while other NGT crops would have to comply with the regulations.
The committee agreed that all NGT crops should remain banned in organic farming. He also agreed to ban all patents on NGT crops, saying this would help “avoid legal uncertainty, increased costs and new dependencies for farmers and breeders.”
The environmental organization Greenpeace argues that the new law, if passed, could threaten the rights of farmers and consumers because it does not provide sufficient protection against contamination of crops by new GMOs.
Source: Ukragroconsult (Ukraine)