FLICKR, TIM GREENThe European Union (EU) Parliament and representatives of the EU’s member states last week (December 3) reached a compromise regarding genetically engineered, or genetically modified (GM), crops. According to the new agreement, the EU does not need a majority of member states to agree with its decision to approve a GM food product for human consumption. Rather, the EU will make its decision independent of member states, each of which will then be able to overrule the approval in its own country.
As a result of this new compromise, several GM crops that “have been in limbo for years” are now likely to inch toward the market, Nature reported. Crops that stand to benefit from the new arrangement include a variety of corn called Bt11, which has been under EU regulatory review since the mid-1990s, for example. “It means that those who don’t want to ignore the science can go ahead and use the science more easily” despite widespread GM opposition in Europe, Jonathan Jones, a plant researcher at the Sainsbury Laboratory in Norwich, U.K., told the publication.
The new agreement must still be approved by the full EU Parliament and a separate committee of member-state representatives, and the legislation necessary to grant member states the right ...
