Brussels, Belgium
March 2, 2009
At a press conference in Brussels,
European plant breeders and seed producers expressed their
frustration on the failure of the European Commission to act on
the issue of thresholds for the presence of GMOs in their
conventional seeds. In a public “Call for Action” the seed
industry called upon the Commission to urgently adopt and
present a legislative proposal.
“For 10 years now, we and many others address the Commission on
the need to set such thresholds - without any legislative
proposal put forward.”, Garlich von Essen, Secretary General of
the European Seed Association
(ESA) summed up the frustration. “Instead of an increasing
understanding of the severe economic and legal problems caused
by this inaction, we feel that we face an increasing lack of
willingness to assume the responsibility and take leadership in
this Commission.”
Seed industry, farmers, Ministers for Agriculture (2006) and
most recently Ministers for the Environment at their Council
meeting of 4.12.2008 repeatedly called upon the Commission to
move forward on this issue. With a growing GM production
worldwide (2008 saw yet another increase of GM plantings to more
than 125 mio ha) as well as in the EU itself (up 21% from last
year for the seven countries growing GM maize) and with GM and
conventional agriculture sharing the same open farming
environment, the presence of GMOs in seed or harvested crops
cannot be excluded. While such mixtures are accepted as
“technically unavoidable” for feed and food products and only
require a labeling for consumer information if a certain
threshold is surpassed (currently 0.9%), no such rules exist for
GMOs in conventional seed. “The Commission closes its eyes and
ears from reality while the situation becomes worse and worse
for our European seed companies” von Essen explains. “We have
seen field destructions and even criminal charges pressed
against our companies and their employees – this is
unacceptable. All it takes to end this legal uncertainty is to
set a practicable technical labeling rule also for seed”.
The industry is specifically critical of the deterioration of
Europe’s internal market for seed. Established already in the
late 1960s and governed by a set of directives setting EU-wide
standards and rules, the absence of a GM labeling threshold has
led to a number of different national rules and procedures
established by Member States
and even by individual regions. “The internal market for seed is
key to the competitiveness of our businesses, but also for
farmers. Especially our many small and medium sized companies,
that are still characteristic for Europe’s seed industry
structure, are unable to work with such a patchwork of rules and
regulations.”, G. von Essen underlines the importance of a level
playing in a Common Market. “The preservation of Europe’s Common
Market is quite rightly the core responsibility of the
Commission. We can’t accept that this responsibility is not
taken up and that the resulting damage to the competitiveness of
Europe’s seed industry and its farmers is neglected for so long.
It is crucial for the companies, for their employees and the
sustainability of this industry in Europe that the necessary
action is taken. Now!”, Garlich von Essen concluded the
presentation.
For 10 years, the
European seed industry has addressed the Commission
on the need to set thresholds for the adventitious
and technically unavoidable presence (AP) of GMOs in
conventional seed - without any legislative proposal
being adopted by the College and presented to Member
States for discussion and approval.
During this period of 10 years, the overall acreage
of GM crops has been increasing at a double digit
growth year upon year with the corresponding
increase of plant breeding and seed production for
GM varieties for this market. This fact alone should
be sufficient to understand that the need to set
such thresholds has become greater year by year. But
instead of an increasing understanding of the severe
economic and legal problems caused by the absence of
thresholds, the seed industry is facing an
increasing lack of willingness to assume
responsibility and leadership in the Commission.
Next to the seed industry, Europe’s farmers as well
as Ministers for Agriculture (following the Vienna
Conference 2006) and most recently Ministers for the
Environment in their conclusions of the Council
meeting of 4th December 2008 have repeatedly called
upon the Commission to move
forward on this issue. The European seed industry
considers it incomprehensible and unacceptable that
the Commission still is not answering this unanimous
request. |
Call
for Action
The European seed industry once again calls upon the
Commission and specifically on Commissioners with
responsibility for GMOs to urgently conclude the
preparatory work and to present a legislative
proposal on thresholds for adventitious presence of
GMOs in conventional seed for decision by the
appropriate body without any further delay.
10 years of inaction have severely damaged the EU’s
common market for seed and have harmed Europe’s seed
companies and seed producing farmers in their
economic and technological competitiveness. This
inaction is financially and legally intolerable and
threatens the future of the EU’s plant breeding and
variety development and with that its sustainable
agriculture. |
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ESA is the voice of the
European seed industry, representing those active in research,
breeding, production and marketing of seeds of agricultural and
ornamental plant species. It represents 37 national seed
associations (and with that more than 1000 seed businesses in
the EU, most of them SMEs) and 55 direct company members. ESA’s
mission is to work for
fair and proportionate regulation of the European seed industry,
freedom of choice for customers in supplying seeds as a result
of innovative, diverse technologies and production methods and
for effective protection of intellectual property rights
relating to plants and seed. |
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