GMOs: Slow Food Expresses Concern About EU Vote

On January 13, the European Parliament will vote on the GMO opt-out proposal. If approved, it will give member states the possibility of limiting or banning the cultivation of genetically modified crops on their territory.

This news is only partly positive for Slow Food. An analysis of the proposal text highlights some serious weaknesses and raises legitimate doubts. Here is the summary of the main critical points that were examined:

• The proposal is too vague regarding the environmental motivations that member states can use to justify a decision. This gives room for disputes by the agro-industrial sector in front of the Court of Justice, notwithstanding the socio-economic motivations that a member state can use to motivate its decision, mentioned in the text.

• The ban or limitation of the cultivation of a GMO on the territory of a state cannot stop the free circulation of the given GMOs in the territory of the country that banned it.

Find Slow Food’s full standpoint on the issue here: www.slowfood.com/sloweurope