The Associated Press | Posted: Saturday, March 11, 2006 6:00 pm
BRUSSELS, Belgium — The European Union threatened legal action against member states that create biotech-free growing zones in their countries, warning that doing so would violate EU trade rules.
Separately, a European Commission report said the EU head office would not draft complex EU-wide safety guidelines on growing genetically modified crops, saying such a move was not needed as there remains only limited cultivation of such crops alongside conventional or organic crops in the 25-nation bloc.
Only three countries, Spain, France and Germany, grow an approved genetically-modified form of maize.
The EU report made clear, however, that a ban on such crops, being championed by several EU states, was not allowed as part of such national safeguards.
“Coexistence measures are designed to ensure that GM crops can be grown alongside non-GM crops without negative economic consequences caused by accidental mixing of the two,” an EU spokesman said.
On Thursday, several EU governments said the EU’s current approval system of allowing new biotech products into Europe be made tougher, arguing that the current review was too weak.
The report by the commission, which favors allowing in more biotech products for use, is likely to widen a rift between EU governments, many of which remain vehemently against their cultivation in Europe. The division could pave new obstacles to mostly U.S.-based biotech companies like Monsanto Co. trying to enter the European market in a trade worth billions of dollars.
Washington and other trade partners argue that the EU is violating world trade rules in restricting imports of biotech crops.
Many regional governments and national governments including Austria, Denmark, Portugal, Italy, Germany and Slovenia have already enacted new laws to prevent genetically altered crops from spreading to non-biotech crops nearby.