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EU Authorizes GMO Potatoes
BRUSSELS - The European Commission on Tuesday approved the cultivation of genetically-modified potatoes, but environmentalists and some European ministers slammed the so-called "frankenfoods".
This file photo released by BASF shows Amflora potatoes. The European Commission has approved the cultivation of genetically modified potatoes, but environmentalists and some European ministers slammed the so-called "frankenfoods". (AFP/BASF/File) The first approval of genetically modified foods in Europe for 12 years was criticised by the Friends of the Earth group and others as a threat to human health, though the potatoes will not be for human consumption.
"This is a bad day for European citizens and the environment," Friends of the Earth said of the green light given for the Amflora potato to be developed by German chemical giant BASF.
The EU Commission also allowed three GM maize products to be placed on the European market, though not grown in Europe.
Modified vegetables and cereals have long been a matter of fierce debate in Europe and the commission stressed that the Amflora would only be for "industrial use" including animal feed.
"We are against the decision taken today by the European Commission," Italian Agriculture Minister Luca Zaia said in a statement.
Prior the potato, only MON 810, a strain of genetically modified maize made by Monsanto, has been authorised for cultivation in Europe since 1998.
The EU Commission said its latest decision was "based on a considerable volume of sound science".
"Responsible innovation will be my guiding principle when dealing with innovative technologies," EU Health and Consumer Policy Commissioner John Dalli assured.
"After an extensive and thorough review of the five pending GM files, it became clear to me that there were no new scientific issues that merited further assessment," he added.
The EU's food safety agency has said the potato is safe for all uses. It is designed to produce industrial starch for use in areas such as paper making.
Amflora is also modified to produce pure amylopectin starch in technical applications.
Conventional potatoes produce a mixture of amylopectin and amylose starch.
But the potato also contains a marker gene resistant to antibiotics, fuelling environmentalists' fears over the risks of contamination for non GMO varieties.
Friends of the Earth said the Amflora potato "carries a controversial antibiotic resistant gene which it cannot be guaranteed will not enter the food chain."
"The new commissioner whose job is to protect consumers has in one of his first decisions ignored public opinion and safety concerns to please the worlds biggest chemical company," said Heike Moldenhauer, the group's GMO spokesperson.
The Greens party in the European parliament said they were "shocked."
Approval of the GMO potato "flies in the face of the 70 percent of consumers who are against GM food, as well as the anti-GM position of the European Parliament," said German Green MEP Martin Hausling.
EU health commissioner Dalli stressed that the GM potatoes would be cultivated at a distance from ordinary crops.
BASF, on its website, said it was "delighted" by the decision "after waiting for more than 13 years," for EU approval.
"We hope, that this decision is a milestone for further innovative products that will promote a competitive and sustainable agriculture in Europe," said board member Stefan Marcinowski.
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26 Comments so far
Show All"We hope, that this decision is a milestone for further innovative products that will promote a competitive and sustainable agriculture in Europe," said board member Stefan Marcinowski."
Innovation?? Competition??
Food is not a "product".
Time for a terminator gene for "capitalism".
"Prior the potato, only MON 810, a strain of genetically modified maize made by Monsanto, has been authorised for cultivation in Europe since 1998."
This is surprising. I would have expected Europe to be smarter than allowing Monsanto in after their assault on small farmers in America.
"I would have expected Europe to be smarter than allowing Monsanto in after their assault on small farmers in America."
I remember an extremely skeptical European public when I lived there, but greedy politicians and corporate management have a way of prevailing, in Europe as in the U.S.
Shows what we've known all along. Biotech is not for feeding the poor. Biotech is for creating consumer products. The object of the genetic mutilation of this potato is to produce high starch content for making glossy paper.
Sheer hubris, experimenting with nature's bank of time, destroying the genetic heritage of our planet's food, for the sake of profits.
I hope there is a hell. I know who'll be there, and what they'll be eating: genetically modified fries, eternally.
Bliss, I think we're already in hell just trying to avoid those GMOs in this country. GMO is gaining some unexpected popularity out in the Far East but at the same time, so are the anti-GMO forces. It's a good thing some nations have an even share of people who aren't yuppie capitalists to save some of their nations' heritages. It is too bad that this nation has been a lost soul to get anything done right for ages.
Here in Oregon, we have a lawsuit brought by organic beet farmers aiming to eliminate geneticly modified beet pollution, which might extend to ALL geneticly modified plant pollution, http://www.registerguard.com/csp/cms/sites/web/business/24516659-41/
beets-sugar-genetically-biotech-morton.csp
It would be wonderful if the polluters of the gene pool were held accountable for their irresponsible actions, but realistically, big bucks and bribed politicians will most likely win out in the end.
Legal precedent actually favors the organic farmers, which is fortuante.
After years of lobbying the Commission, BASF et al. finally got their way. The US govt. as well as many US-based corporations have been lobbying the Commission for years to pry open the EU market for their industrial frankenfood.
However, the product must be labeled GMO in the EU and as the article mentions, there is overwhelming public opposition to GMOs. Many people in europe will boycott that garbage.
So does the paper have to be labeled GMO so that we can boycott it?
I doubt it.
How is a spy going to know if it is safe to eat the paper in an effort to destoy his or her orders?
In the USA GMO foods do not have to be labeled as such, in the EU they do.
The EU has banned stevia, a natural but healthy sweetner, in the past and is tied to the agri-business goons and hiding behind those "free trade" deals just like Washington. What is the point of having a EU if it shares the same goals as FTAA (Free Trade Area of the Americas) ???
They keep coming back, these GMO corporations, with determined patience and deep pockets.They will never rest. They are the undead from the George Romero films. They will wear us down and wear us out. They will win.
That is really sad, how can this happen, I thought politicians couldn't be paid off in the EU.
paying someone off is only one way to get them to do your bidding...there are others...negative ones...
the mentality behind what has happened in America is not native to America, nor limited to this country...it is encompassing the globe before our very eyes...
Every one of the foodstuffs we buy today have already been "Genetically Modified" by selective breeding. The hullabaloo about GM potatoes is scare tactics.
Crowsnest, As you well know, there's a big difference between selective breeding and GM. The dangers of the latter are not the safety of the food itself but the effect on the environment with a rate of change and imbalance and other unknown factors. It's a live experiment with no safety net.
It appears GM doesn't work well either, except for the Corporations that have a stranglehold on the seed and the politicians they support.
Hurray! I got a fine discussion going. That would have never happened had I joined the condemnations!
There is a big difference between breeding two plants to get favorable characteristics and splicing in genes from wholely unrelated organisms.
And don't forget, the only purpose of many of these GMOs is to resist Monsanto's specific herbicide, not to make the plants themselves any better.
Right! There are genes spliced in to make plants their own herbicide excretors, genes of antibiotic resistant bacteria that the corporation uses merely as a marker to identify their product (for lawsuits) and on and on. If a plant resists Round Up, it is sprayed and sprayed with Round Up through the course of its cultivation. A root plant like a potato will absorb the Round Up more so than other plants which means we or the animals we consume get to eat and absorb Round Up. I used to think the way you did, Crowsnest, until someone educated me. Sad for the EU. They have been successful until now in warding GM foods off.
Is that what they told you on TV?
When do we get Roundup Ready babies?
Humbaba,
We already have them; we are full of trace chemicals from thousands of human engineered sources and some is passed on from generation to generation.
Maybe it will eventually result in a "Children of Men" scenario? Who knows? Government and their supporting corporations don't know and they don't wish to know either.
"though the potatoes will not be for human consumption...
Modified vegetables and cereals have long been a matter of fierce debate in Europe and the commission stressed that the Amflora would only be for "industrial use" including animal feed."
and the animals feeding on the genetically modified potatoes will be used for?
Farmers are curious. Someone, somewhere, if only to 'prove' these potatoes are 'safe', will get hold of them and plant them where they're not supposed to be, and they will be eaten, saved, regrown and fed to animals and people again. Just like what happened to GMO corn imported into Mexico that's now contaminating the homeland of corn. The potatoes will get out and mix with nonGMO potatoes. Everyone knows that the only possible safe way of planting GMO food crops is in greenhouses.
In one sense, the corporations pushing GMOs are about privatizing and polluting agricultural land. Just another commons. The marginal product of a commons is the source of ALL wealth. After poisoning humans, wild animals, the sky (geoengineering, fossil fuel emissions), the waterways and oceans, now they're tampering with agricultural land. Business school is all about figuring out where there's a commons to exploit. It's just 'good business.'
The next Irish Potoato Famine will be Europe wide
Keep your stinking Frankentaters
Once the Genetically modified food is the only source of nourishment on the planet (and seedless), they will crank up the price like every other corporation.