European Commission gives GM guidelines

The European Commission (EC) has released its guidelines for ensuring that genetically modified (GM) crops can be grown in coexistence with conventional and organic farming. The guidelines, published July 23, are intended "to help member states to develop workable measures for co-existence in conformity with EU legislation."In a significant move, the EC emphasized that legislating in this specific area should be a matter for individual member states. In a statement, Franz Fischler, commissioner for Agriculture, Rural Development and Fisheries said, "What is an efficient and cost-effective best practice is specific to national and regional or local conditions. This makes an EU-wide 'one-size-fits-all' approach unworkable."Simon Barber, director of the Plant Biotechnology Unit at EuropaBio, the European Association for Bioindustries, agrees with this decision. He told The Scientist, "There are good scientific reasons for giving this responsibility to the member states, given their different agro-environments."Some anti-GM campaign groups have also welcomed this development for bringing more clarity about the legislative responsibilities. Clare Oxborrow of Friends of the Earth in the United Kingdom told The Scientist, "It does mean the UK government can now come under pressure to take strong measures to protect agriculture in the UK, whereas until now they have been saying that their hands are tied and they can't do anything because of what's going on in Europe. So it really brings it back home and back down to a UK level."But Friends of the Earth has many other significant concerns about the plans for coexistence and believes a workable system may not be possible. Barber commented, "Some groups do want to use the coexistence issue to prevent farmers from growing crops derived from biotechnology. But we are pleased that the commission has published these guidelines in a timely manner that will set a framework for true coexistence and true choice."The guidelines stress that the measures adopted by member states should include appropriate isolation distances, cooperation between neighboring farms, monitoring and evaluation of the success of coexistence measures, and appropriate training initiatives.A central point is that "farmers should be able to choose the production type they prefer, without imposing the necessity to change already-established production patterns in the neighbourhood."Another important recommendation is that legislative measures "should be specific to different types of crop, since the probability of admixture varies greatly from one crop to another."The commission also advises member states to examine their civil liability laws to find out whether existing national laws sufficiently cover claims for damages if cross-contamination occurs.A spokesperson for the United Kingdom's Agriculture and Environment Biotechnology Commission (AEBC), which advises the UK government, told The Scientist, "Members of the AEBC will take all this into account when they are drafting their forthcoming report on coexistence and liability for GM crop commercialization." That report should be published by the end of August.In 2005, the EC will assess the situation in all member states and will consider whether further steps need to be taken.There have been several related developments over the past few days. The EC has initiated court action against 11 member states for failing to adopt existing EU legislation on the deliberate release of GM organisms into the environment.French biotech company Biogemma has threatened to move its experiments on GM organisms outside Europe after a new wave of GM field destruction by anti-GM campaigners.And the UK government's GM Science Review panel issued a report this week, emphasizing that applications for commercial growing of GM crops in the United Kingdom should be assessed on a case-by-case basis. The report indicated that no health hazards from GM crops have been apparent so far but that the possibility of environmental and health problems could not be ruled out entirely.

European Commission gives GM guidelines

New guidelines for coexistence of GM and non-GM crops put onus back on member states

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