Britain Seeks to Speed up GM Import Approvals
British farm minister Hilary Benn called on Friday for the European Union to speed up the approval process for imports of genetically modified (GM) crops.
Benn told reporters at the Royal Agricultural Show it was important for British livestock farmers to be able to access as many feed sources as possible at a time of rising costs.
"I do want the EU to speed up the process. It is a very important part of helping farmers with some of the challenges they have clearly got," he said.
Genetically modified crops now account for about two-thirds of the world's soy crops, just under 50 percent of cotton, about 25 percent of maize and 20 percent of rapeseed.
There is significant opposition to GM crops in Europe with opponents citing both food safety and environmental concerns.
EU countries rarely agree on anything to do with GM products and their discussions on authorising imports on new modified products often descend into ill-tempered deadlock.
When this happens and the ministers fail to achieve a majority under a complex weighted voting system either to reject or approve the application, EU law provides for the European Commission, the bloc's executive, to issue a default approval.
The prolonged process has ensured approvals have been slow.
Benn said there was no evidence that GM crops were not safe to eat, the key issue for imports.
Benn told reporters at the Royal Agricultural Show it was important for British livestock farmers to be able to access as many feed sources as possible at a time of rising costs.
"I do want the EU to speed up the process. It is a very important part of helping farmers with some of the challenges they have clearly got," he said.
Genetically modified crops now account for about two-thirds of the world's soy crops, just under 50 percent of cotton, about 25 percent of maize and 20 percent of rapeseed.
There is significant opposition to GM crops in Europe with opponents citing both food safety and environmental concerns.
EU countries rarely agree on anything to do with GM products and their discussions on authorising imports on new modified products often descend into ill-tempered deadlock.
When this happens and the ministers fail to achieve a majority under a complex weighted voting system either to reject or approve the application, EU law provides for the European Commission, the bloc's executive, to issue a default approval.
The prolonged process has ensured approvals have been slow.
Benn said there was no evidence that GM crops were not safe to eat, the key issue for imports.
