Berlin, Germany
June 29, 2009
USDA/FAS GAIN report
Report highlights
Czech scientists have
published and distributed a "white paper", an EU wide
recommendation for consideration for removing politics from
decision making about agricultural biotechnology in Europe.
Czech scientists are urging policy makers to take rational
approach towards genetically modified crops, especially in
case of creating legislative acts and deciding on GM crop
approvals.
General Information:
Biotechnology Policy: According the Czech Academy of
Sciences, many European scientists are disturbed by the fact
that political factors and ideology prevent unbiased assessments
of the biotechnology in some EU countries, that negatively
effect on the whole Community. Being aware of the responsibility
their country bears during the EU Presidency, Czech
scientists working with biotech crops prepared a White Book
summarizing their experience and analyzing relevant EU
legislation. The book has been prepared in frame of EU project
called MOBITAG and published by the Biology Centre ASCR. It is
available as a PDF file at
http://www.bc.cas.cz/en/MOBITAG.html
The White Book makes the following
recommendations:
1. Decisions concerning genetic
modifications should not contradict scientific evidence.
2. Breeding techniques, including
GM, should primarily be evaluated with respect to the
outcome rather than the process itself.
3. The precautionary principle
should be replaced by serious and robust risk/benefit
assessment applied to all innovations in agriculture.
4. Risk assessments should always
include the benefits and comparison of parallel technologies
with all their components (e.g. GM crop deployment, standard
agriculture with pesticides, and organic farming with
permitted plant protection measures, since pesticides and
even mycotoxins in organic foods present risks).
5. Economic assessments should also
be done by comparison with parallel technologies.
6. If Member states are allowed to
ban technology permitted elsewhere in the EU, they should
also be allowed to use a technology that has not yet been
approved by the EU, provided that it does not impinge on
other Member states.
The White Book is also a reaction to the
Council Conclusions on Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs)
(2912th E_VIRO_ME_T Council meeting Brussels, 4 December 2008),
which "welcomes the Commission's mandate to the European Food
Safety Authority to undertake a revision exercise started in
March 2008 and to be completed no later than March 2010
regarding its guidelines on environmental risk assessment; calls
for this work to be carried out if possible before March 2010,
providing that this does not influence the quality of the
consultation process; invites the Member States to ensure full
participation of their competent scientific bodies in the
consultation EFSA will undertake during the revision process, by
offering their contribution on the project within the required
time frame". Czech scientists would like to participate and
contribute to the process and their recommendations are
available in the white book.
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