eu ope Fact Sheet

GMOs in Europe: A Status Report

T he regulation of genetically modified organisms in Europe is complex, due in

large part to the European Union’s extensive system of checks and balances. It is
also complicated by the fact that the EU’s 27 Member States have their own power,
however limited, to restrict GMOs within their borders. Additionally, there are pres-
sures from major GM-producing countries, the World Trade Organisation, biotech-
nology companies and agribusinesses for the EU to allow more sales and cultivation
of GM foods. The landscape, therefore, is constantly changing. Here is an overview
of the current state of affairs, as of summer 2008.
GMO Marketing and Cultivation in
the EU
GMOs have been approved in the European Union for
two purposes: marketing and cultivation. The EU has
approved about 30 GMOs for marketing, mostly GM soy
in animal feed. Only one GMO crop, Monsanto’s MON
810 maize, has been approved for cultivation. EU laws
prevent individual Member States from banning the mar-
keting of EU-approved GMOs unless scientific evidence
shows they are harmful. If a country imposes a ban con-
trary to EU policy, it can be brought before the European
Court of Justice and be fined. Banning the cultivation of
a GMO is even more problematic because farmers are
permitted to grow GMOs as long as they comply with
rules for co-existence with conventional and organic
crops. Environmental groups point out that co-existence
is impossible to achieve and that buffer zones between
GM and conventional crops are ineffective, especially in
countries where small farms predominate, such as Poland
and Greece.

Monsanto’s Only Crop in Europe

Cultivation of MON 810, which has been genetically mod-
ified to resist certain insect pests, was approved in 1998,
and Spain has since taken the lead in producing it. MON
810 represents about 20 percent of the maize grown in
Spain, cultivated on 75,100 of the total 110,000 hectares
of MON 810 grown in the EU, according to the biotech-
nology association EuropaBio. The EU’s total doubled
from 2006 to 2007 alone. France is second with 21,000
ha but has since banned cultivation of GMO crops. Other
countries growing MON 810 include the Czech Republic
(5,000 ha), Portugal (4,500), Germany (2,685), Slovakia
(900), Romania (350) and Poland (320).1 Environmental
groups note that GM crops in Spain have contaminated
conventional and organic varieties.
National Bans on GMOs
Several EU countries have introduced bans on marketing
and cultivating GMO products, but they are being under-
mined by pressures from the World Trade Organisation.
 has been among the strongest anti-GMO countries in
terms of both cultivation and marketing. Austria’s ban
on cultivating and marketing MON 810, as well as GM
animal feed, has been in place since 1999. In late 2006,
the European Commission (EC) began pressuring Aus-
tria to lift its ban because it applied to products already
being actively sold. EU Environment Ministers backed
Austria but it has since become increasingly difficult for
Austria to maintain the marketing ban. On 27 May 2008,
Austria lifted its ban on EU-approved GM products
due to pressure from the EC and the possibility of legal
consequences. The ban on cultivation remains intact
and large supermarket chains have entered a voluntary
agreement not to offer GMO-derived food products.
Austria’s livestock industry also prefers not to use MON
810.2
was the first post-Soviet bloc country to ban MON 810,
in early 2005. Hungary’s Agriculture Ministry claimed
further tests were needed to determine whether MON
810 could contaminate other plants. Two years later the
EC tried to challenge Hungary’s ban as contrary to inter-
national trade rules. EU Agriculture Ministers have voted
three times to uphold the ban.3
, known for its strong opposition to GMOs, notified the
EC in 2005 it was banning MON 810 cultivation for the
2005 and 2006 growing seasons. The EC ordered Greece
to lift the ban in early 2006, but Greece does not appear
ready to allow GMOs. “The environment minister who
gives in and allows GMOs into this country will never be
minister again,” said Nikos Lappas, head of Greece’s larg-
est farmers’ union. “For farmers, forcing GMOs would be
economic suicide, since our market doesn’t want them.”4
first banned MON 810 cultivation in autumn 2007, a
short-term ban that ended in February 2008 and was
then renewed. The government invoked the “safeguard
clause” of the EU’s Deliberate Release Directive, which
states any Member State can suspend EU approval of a
GMO if it presents new scientific evidence about risks
to public health or the environment. Jean-Francois Le
Grand, chair of France’s Provisional High Authority on
GM Organisms, said the organisation has uncovered
evidence that MON 810 affects insects, earthworms and
microorganisms.5 The French Constitutional Court has
upheld the ban.
introduced a total ban on trade in GM seeds in April
2006 through its seed and plant protection law. The EC
challenged the ban on 31 January 2008, declaring that it
lacked scientific basis and referring Poland to the Europe-
an Court of Justice. Also in 2006, the Polish government
banned animal feed as of August 2008. A new govern-
ment has since taken power, however, and says the ban
violates EU regulations, which allow EU-approved GM
animal feed to be marketed in Europe without restric-
tion. The new government’s compromise is to postpone
the ban by four years, though many Polish legal analysts
believe this is still against EU law.
announced in March 2008 its intention to go GMO-free
and invest in organic production. This was a surprising
turnaround because Romania had been very open to the
biotechnology industry, and before joining the EU had al-
lowed large quantities of GM soy not approved by the EU
to be grown. In January 2007 Romania banned cultiva-
tion of GM soy to comply with EU regulations.
“GMO-Free Regions”
The EU has 172 large regions and 4,500 smaller zones
that have declared themselves to be GMO-free. These
include, for example, all cities and villages in Greece
and Austria, and 90 percent of all land in Italy. These
GMO-free regions are an expression of the will of citizens
but are not legally binding. Farmers may still plant ap-
proved GM crops as long as they do so legally. In 2007,
the European Court of Justice ruled local authorities in
Upper Austria’s GM-free region should not limit farmers’
freedom of choice as long as they establish buffer zones.
Member State GMO Preferences
Austria, Greece, Italy and Luxembourg consistently vote
against GMO approvals, while Finland, the Netherlands
and the UK (which does not grow MON 810) almost
always vote in favour. Lately, the Czech Republic and
Sweden have also voted for new GM approvals. France
voted in favour of Novaritis’ BT maize in 1997-98 but has
since turned against GMOs.
Zero Tolerance Policy
To date the EU has maintained a “zero tolerance’ policy
towards the introduction of unapproved GMO products,
such as GMO-contaminated animal feed and rice. The EU
routinely orders contaminated products to be returned
to their country of origin. This policy is now under threat
because biotechnology companies are playing the food
crisis to their advantage by arguing that GMOs can lower
food costs. Claims that animal feed with traces of unau-
thorized GMOs could help lower production costs and
consumer prices are countered by NGOs such as Friends
of the Earth Europe, which says, “European livestock
farmers need real solutions, not measures that will sim-
ply increase the industry’s control and profits.”6 Under
pressure from the food industry and the US, EU Health
Commissioner Androulla Vassiliou is likely to propose
lifting the GM contamination threshold from zero to 0.1
percent.7 Although this threshold may seem low, it could
allow more unauthorized GMOs through the back door
and advance arguments by multinational agribusinesses
that GMOs are unavoidable and already entrenched in
the EU’s food supply system.
GMOs and the
World Trade Organisation
The EU had approved 18 GM products for marketing
until June 1999, when the European Council passed a
moratorium on new GMO approvals. In response, the
United States, Canada and Argentina in May 2003 filed a
complaint with the World Trade Organisation’s Dispute
Settlement Body. The WTO ruled in November 2006 that
the EU breached marketing commitments for 21 prod-
ucts from 1998-2004, including GM rapeseed, maize and
cotton. It also ruled that national GMO bans approved by
the EC violated trade rules and were unjustified. At the
same time, however, the WTO rejected claims that the
EU’s GMO rules were illegal and refused to rule on the
overarching issue of whether genetically modified foods
are safe.8
GMO Approval Standards in the EU
and Elsewhere
According to Friends of the Earth, it takes about 30
months for new GMOs to be authorised in the EU. This
is twice as long as the U.S. government takes. Contrary
to popular belief, Brazil and Argentina take longer than
the EU and the United States to commercialize new GM
crops. Both countries are reluctant to approve new GM
crops if they are not already approved on other markets.
The EU can therefore use its import leverage to encour-
age Brazil, Argentina, China and other countries that
supply Europe with animal feed and cereals to produce
non-GM varieties and limit their GMO cultivation.9 It is
likely these countries would rather produce crops the EU
desires rather than force unwanted GMOs onto the EU
market.
Endnotes
1
“Powierzchnia upraw roślin GMO w Europie stale się zwiększa,”
Niezależnej Agencji Prasowej, 31 October 2007.
2
“Still No GMO Cultivation in Austria,” Co-Extra (Institut National de
la Recherche Agronomique), 22 June 2008.
3
Spongenberg, Helena. “EU States Affirm GMO Ban,” , 22 February
2007.
4
Rosenthal, Elisabeth. “Biotech Foods Tears Rifts in Europe,” , 6 June
2006.
5
Bowden, Rich. “France Bans Monsanto Strain of GM Corn,” , 11 Febru-
ary 2008.
6
Bounds, Andrew. “Fresh Fight Looms Over Europe GM Crops,” , 24
June 2008.
7
Ibid.
8
“EU Accepts Trade Ruling on GMOs,” EurActiv, 22 November 2006.
9
“EU Animal Feed Imports and GMO Policy,” Coordination Paysanne
Européenne, Friends of the Earth Europe, Greenpeace, May 2008.
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