The European Commission approved measures intended to improve the scientific consistency and transparency for decisions on allowing European market access to genetically modified food, ENS reported on 12 April 2006. There are currently 12 national bans against GMOs in European Union countries. 172 regions of Europe have declared their wish to be GMO-free. The new measures are proposed in an attempt to reassure the public that European Commission decisions on GMOs “are based on high quality scientific assessments which deliver a high level of protection of human health and environment,” said European Environment Commissioner Stavos Dimas and Health and Consumer Protection Commissioner Markos Kyprianou.
The Parties to the Aarhus Convention adopted an amendment on the rights of the public to participate in decision-making on genetically modified organisms (GMOs) at their second meeting in Almaty, Kazakhstan, in May 2005. The amendment will come into force after ratification by at least three quarters of the Parties to the Convention.
For the text of the amendment, see http://www.unece.org/env/documents/2005/pp/ece/ece.mp.pp.2005.2.add.2.e.pdf
For fuller coverage of the new European Commission GMO measures, see
http://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/apr2006/2006-04-12-04.asp
[Source: Environment News Service]
