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EU countries can ban GM food if there is a health risk, legal advisor opines
Date Posted: 3/14/2003
LUXEMBOURG - AP World News via NewsEdge Corporation : In an opinion delivered to the European Court of Justice Thursday, the EU Advocate General said EU governments can ban genetically modified foodstuffs if there are ''detailed grounds'' these pose a threat to public health or the environment.
The advocate general's view is not binding on the EU high court but is followed in 80 percent of its rulings and may well be a setback to biotech companies that have been waiting for years to get the EU to lift its moratorium on the marketing of genetically modified foods.
The EU high court will now study the issue that has soured trans-Atlantic trade relations in detail. No date for a judgment has been set.
Advocate General Siegbert Alber said Italy was entitled in August, 2000, to ban foodstuffs _ notably flour made from genetically modified maize _ by Monsanto Europe S.A, and two other companies, Syngenta AG and Pioneer Hi-Bred International Inc.
EU governments may impose a ban if they have ''detailed grounds'' to believe the modified foods threaten public health or the environment, said Alber.
Italy said the genetically modified flour could pose dangers to health and the environment. The companies appealed that and an Italian court sent the case to EU high court for guidance.
The Italian ban was imposed though British and French food safety officials had declared them to be ''substantially equivalent'' to the traditional varieties.
Alber said ''novel foods may be placed on the market ... even then they contain traces of transgenic protein, provided they are absolutely safe in terms of health.''
However, he added, EU government may ''adopt protective measures when there are detailed grounds for considering that the use of the food at issue endangers human health or the environment.''
Under EU rules, European governments must approve genetically modified seeds and foods before they can be imported and used by farmers and food processors.
In the past four years, European Union countries have maintained a moratorium on such imports.
The U.S. administration is considering bringing suit at the World Trade Organization against the EU, estimating the European moratorium costs American producers $200 million a year in lost corn export revenues alone.
Although EU governments ban genetically modified foods, the EU executive Commission is fighting to end the moratorium.
The biotech industry played down the significance of Alber's opinion.
Europabio, an industry group, said it believed Italy would repeal its ban and must still present evidence showing why it ban the genetically modified foodstuffs.
``Italy didn't present truly new evidence,'' said Simon Barber of Europabio. ``We're confident these kinds of bans only will be upheld when real evidence comes to light.''
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