Ireland switches to join minority in Europe opposed to GM

IRELAND is joining a group of five EU countries opposed to any use of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) in a move that could lead to clashes with Irish farming interests.

Environment Minister John Gormley signalled Ireland’s changed position at a meeting of his EU counterparts in Luxembourg yesterday.

And in a sign of changed Government policies, Mr Gormley met Greenpeace members who were protesting outside the meeting — but who praised him and his stance on GMOs.

He said Ireland would object to efforts to put an antibiotic resistant genetically modified (GM) potato on the market and would vote against authorising any GMOs in the EU.

Irish farmers have said they want to continue importing GM animal feed.

Mr Gormley said Ireland now finds itself in a similar position to Austria — the country most strongly opposed to GMOs. Austria is one of five countries that have banned eight organisms that were cleared by the European Food Safety Agency. A loophole has prevented the European Commission removing the bans.

Ireland’s new stance could augment the ranks of this small group of countries to form a blocking minority.

On the agenda at yesterday’s meeting was how to ensure countries only receive GM products they have authorised. Recently a banned GM maize, Herculux, was offloaded in Dublin from a ship coming from the US.

A proposal to allow farmers to grow a GM potato, which would initially be used as industrial starch, was withdrawn from the meeting’s agenda after experts from the various countries failed to agree on the issue earlier this week.

Mr Gormley says he intended to vote against its approval had it come up at the meeting.

Greenpeace has warned that if authorised, the GM potato would be allowed for cultivation in all 27 EU countries, including those that have no measures to protect other crops against contamination.

The ministers also discussed a recent report that showed a GM maize — approved by the EU Commission last year for use in food and feed — had raised health doubts following additional testing.

A number of bodies and the EU Commissioner for the Environment, Stavros Dimas, have voiced concerns over the way the European Food Safety Authority evaluates GMOs, as it bases its risk assessments mainly on data supplied by the applicant company.

The EU has not approved any GM crops for growing since 1998, when a moratorium was placed on new authorisations, although this ended in 2004.