In one area in particular, the European Union is streets ahead of the United States - Europe has taken the views of its citizens on genetic modification seriously. While the US has for years followed a policy based on trial and error, the EU has introduced, and, if we Greens have anything to do with it, will continue to introduce legislation based on the precautionary principle, writes Daniel Cohn-Bendit
Next week (April 27th-28th), agriculture ministers from the EU's 15 current member-states will meet in Luxembourg under the Irish presidency to discuss whether a strain of genetically modified sweetcorn (Bt11) should be allowed to be sold in Europe. If this is approved, it will end the de facto moratorium on the granting of licences for the sale of new genetically modified organisms (GMOs) in the European market.
When this licence was discussed at council level, Ireland voted to approve the new GM sweetcorn, despite Taoiseach Bertie Ahern's assertion in the Dáil that no decisions had been taken. The Green Group/EFA in the European Parliament has written to the Taoiseach, to the European Commission President, Romano Prodi, and to the 15 agriculture ministers who will vote on this issue, urging them to listen once again to the views of Europe's citizens. We have also urged them to consider serious scientific evidence demonstrating that the safety of this sweetcorn is far from assured. This letter and the supporting evidence is published on the Green/EFA group's website at: www.greens-efa.org
In 1999 the European Council agreed to a moratorium on the licencing of all new GMOs due to well-founded doubts about the public health and ecological implications for both food and agriculture. At that time the Greens were part of governments in France, Germany, Belgium and Italy.
The moratorium gave citizens, scientists and politicians the time and space to analyse data more closely and create a legislative framework to protect consumer choice and avert potential damage to the environment and public health. From the experience of extensive cultivation of GMOs in the US we now know that there are serious risks involved.
Meanwhile, the European Greens appeal to the EU to continue to support the opinion of the vast majority of Europe's consumers - up to 80 per cent in some surveys - who say 'No!' to GMOs.
The European Greens believe European legislation on genetic modification must continue to be steered by the precautionary principle. If the EC finally decides to permit the marketing of the first new GM products, then the 'safety net' of labelling, traceability, and in particular, the issue of co-existence between GM, organic and conventional crops, must be strengthened.
Only if GM contamination in seeds and food is clearly labelled, and threshold levels for detection are realistic, can consumers and farmers have a real choice. Commissioner Byrne takes his cues from the biotech industry on this issue and promotes maximum threshold levels for detection, in direct opposition to his Commission colleagues for Agriculture, Franz Fischler, and the Environment, Margot Wallström.
The directive on the voluntary dissemination of GMOs was strengthened in European legislation in 2001, but 11 states have still not implemented it, including Ireland, which will mean a creeping and uncontrollable spread of future GMO licences.
Under this legislation, farmers who want to use an EU-authorised GMO will be obliged to declare the use in public registers and will be collectively responsible for economic damages to the harvests of adjoining fields caused by contamination. A farmer whose crops become contaminated by GM pollen from adjoining fields will in future have to declare that his or her products are GM contaminated. For an organic farmer, this is a total financial disaster.
Consequently though, under the EU directive - which has not yet been adopted by Ireland - even if the organic farmer cannot prove which of the neighbours was responsible, he or she would be entitled to compensation from them. As a result of this legislation, an interesting development has occurred in Germany where professional agricultural organisations have now declared that using GMOs in agriculture is of no economic benefit to them, and that it is better to avoid them entirely so as to steer clear of unnecessary risks.
If we really believe that consumers should be able to make informed choices and that the precautionary principle remains an integral part of EU lawmaking, we have to continue fighting to mobilise citizens "for 1,000 GM-free regions".
The Irish Government and the Irish Commissioner are failing Irish and European consumers with their stance on genetic modification. Our fight for 1,000 GM-free regions - and for Ireland to be one of them - is the best way we can pressurise the Irish Government into following the example of countries that refuse the GMO diktat.
Daniel Cohn-Bendit MEP is leader of the Greens/EFA group in the European Parliament