ECJ overrules ban on GM crops

European GM-free zones could be under threat after EU judges overturned a regional ban on growing genetically modified crops.

The Luxembourg court upheld a European Commission complaint against the region of Upper Austria, after the region introduced a law which effectively banned the growing of GM crops.

The EU’s food safety watchdog – EFSA – backed the commission’s stance in an opinion stating that the Austrian assembly had failed to provide evidence of health or environmental risks when introducing the legislation.

The Upper Austrian provincial parliament passed the law in January 2003.

The 'genetechnology prohibition law' took a precautionary stance on GM crops, arguing that without EU-wide coexistence laws to protect farmers and consumers, the cultivation of GM crops could be banned.

Environmental groups were frustrated by Wednesday’s ECJ ruling.

“Thousands of local governments and regions across Europe are voting to ban these unwanted and risky crops,” said Friends of the Earth’s Helen Holder.

“It is time that European law reflected the wishes of the majority and stopped these crops until their safety can be assured.”

GM continues to split the EU, with national capitals routinely deadlocked over supporting or rejecting new GM seed approvals or thresholds, leaving the European Commission to rubber stamp decisions.

A number of member states are also pressing the commission to draft EU-wide rules on the coexistence of traditional, organic and GM crops.

Few member states currently operate coexistence rules, and those that do, do so under non-binding regulations.

The European Commission has been hesitant in addressing coexistence legislation, despite the fact that it would be virtually impossible to grow GM crops in Europe without strict coexistence guidelines.

EU agriculture chief Mariann Fischer Boel has recently hinted that she will take up the issue in the new year.

But the commission’s continuing support for GM and its open opposition to GM-free zones is likely to harden the attitudes of EU countries such as Austria, Denmark and Luxembourg that are strongly against GM.

Upper Austria is just one of 164 regions banning GMOs, said Friends of the Earth in a statement.

“The movement against genetically modified crops will not be stopped by one legal ruling,” said Holder.

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