Date published: 2006/04/18
The BBC says:
Two environmental groups say they have documents which show a double standard on the safety of genetically-modified organisms in the European Commission.
Friends of the Earth and Greenpeace accuse the commission of telling the public GMOs are safe but admitting to safety concerns in a report.
The two groups are citing a report submitted by the commission to the World Trade Organisation.
The European Commission is the EU's executive body.
Friends of the Earth Europe and Greenpeace are accusing the European Commission of approving GM crops and foods despite serious doubts over their impact on health and the environment.
Using freedom of information rules, they obtained the commission's report to the World Trade Organisation, which is hearing a complaint against European bans on GMOs.
The report warns that there are still large areas of scientific uncertainty and disagreement, and that based on current data there is no way to rule out the development of cancer or allergies as a result of GMOs.
It raises concerns about weeds and insects becoming resistant to the toxins in GM crops, and it warns that GM plants like oilseed rape and sugar beet can easily cross with their wild relatives.
Just two weeks ago the EU agriculture commissioner repeated that no GM products were approved unless they were completely safe.
But those assurances are not getting through. In a recent EU poll, nearly two-thirds said they were worried about the safety of GM foods.
As pointed out by the FoE and Greenpeace, the European Commission is in a pickle. The whole case of the EU to the WTO rests on pretending that their ban on GMOs is not just a trade barrier but instead due to health concerns, and this is manifestly wrong, so hopefully the WTO will treat it with the disrespect it deserves. But of course everybody also knows (including the so-called environmentalists) that no food (GMO or otherwise) can ever be shown to be "completely safe", and anybody who pretends otherwise is just a liar. So the so-called environmentalists are being just as disingenous as the EC. And the fact that two-thirds of the EU citizenry are allegedly worried about the safety of GM foods just shows how susceptible people are to hysterical and ill-informed media coverage, fanned by the so-called environmentalists and much of the rest of the chattering classes.
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