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Vote on GMO opt-out for EU member states

New legislation to allow EU member states to restrict or ban the cultivation of crops containing genetically modified organisms (GMOs) on their own territory, even if this is allowed at EU level, will be put to a vote on Tuesday. The plans, informally agreed by Parliament and Council in December, were originally tabled in 2010 but were then deadlocked for four years due to disagreement between pro and anti-GMO member states.

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Dublin MEP Lynn Boylan has today called on her fellow Irish MEPs to reject next Tuesday's vote on GMOs.

"When the EU Council and the Parliament concluded their negotiations before Christmas, the final text was drastically diluted and in my opinion leaves legal loopholes available for biotech companies to exploit to take countries to court.

The controversial Phase 1 albeit improved has been reinserted and the Parliament's preferred Environmental legal basis for the legislation was changed to EU Internal Market law which undermines using environmental grounds for banning GM crops." said the Sinn Féin MEP

“I am calling on my fellow MEPs and particularly my Irish colleagues to vote against this report on Tuesday. It is a flawed report and does not offer countries watertight legislation to ban GM crops on their soil, it will instead, in my opinion open the flood gates to GM crops despite strong public resistance to them” added Ms Boylan.