English
DeutschOn 27 January 2010, EFSA GMO Panel adopt a scientific opinion on the establishment of area free of cultivation of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) in the Portuguese autonomous region of Madeira, an archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean.
The GMO Panel only commented on aspects relating to human and animal health and the environment, and concluded that it could not identify new scientific information that would justify an ban of GM crops in Madeira.
However the GMO panel did not comment on socio-economic aspects of the cultivation of GM crops or about the coexistence between cropping systems, argued that these issues fall outside its remit.
Background:
In May 2009 the Republic of Portugal informed the European Commission about its intention to declare the autonomous region of Madeira as an area free of the cultivation of varieties of GMOs. The draft Decree of Portugal wants to prohibit the introduction of plant or seed propagating material containing GMOs into the territory of Madeira. The ban includes all GMO varieties authorized under Directive 2001/18/EC and Regulation 1829/2003.
In its notification Portugal points out, that Madeira has an immense plant genetic wealth, which not only has existed for centuries but also is of scientific and economic value. To justify the ban of GMOs Portugal mainly emphasizes two reasons. First, the coexistence between GM crops and conventional and/or organic crops in the Madeira is considered as impossible. Second, as the effects of introducing GMOs into nature are rated as not have been adequately studied, Portugal concludes that the introduction of GMOs could have dangerous consequences for Madeira's environment.
After having received the Portuguese notification the European Commission has the obligation to adopt a decision on this notification in accordance with Article 95(5) and (6) of the EC treaty. In view of this obligation the European Commission has requested EFSA to assess, whether the scientific evidence submitted by Portugal relates to the protection of the environment in Madeira. In its decision from 3 November 2009, the EU Commission set the deadline to approve or reject the Portuguese Decree by 4 May 2010.
The draft regional legislative Decree declaring the autonomous region of Madeira to be an area free of the cultivation of GMOs is the second case so far, in which EFSA has to deal with a legislative intention to prohibit the cultivation of GMOs on a regional scale. The first case was a draft law introduced in the Upper Austrian legislature in 2002. The aim of this draft law was stated to be to safeguard organic farming from GMO contamination as well as the protection of natural biodiversity, particularly in sensitive ecological areas. The proposed GMO ban was based on a report entitled "GMO-free agricultural areas: design and analysis of scenarios and implementation measures" written by Werner Müller.
In July 2003, following investigation of the evidence presented by the Austrian submission, the EFSA GMO Panel advised the European Commission that there are no scientific grounds for effectively banning GMOs in Upper Austria. In accordance with this advice the European Commission decided in September 2003 to reject the request from Austria to introduce a regional ban. Shortly after the EU Commission decision Upper Austria and the Republic Austria brought action against this decision before the European Court of Justice. In September 2007 the Court declared the legal ban on GMOs by Upper Austria to be invalid.
Madeira:
The archipelago Madeira lies in the Atlantic Ocean, some 580 km of the African Coast. Only a very small part of Madeira is still covered with the indigenous laurisilva subtropical rainforest. However, in the north, the valleys contain native trees of fine growth. These laurisilva forests, notably the forests on the northern slopes of Madeira Island, are designated a World Heritage Site by UNESCO. The climate is oceanic subtropical.
The EU Commission has to decide on whether to reject or approve Portugal's decree by 4 May 2010.
Portugal based it decision to ban cultivation GM crops on Madeira on "agricultural and natural reasons". Agricultural reasons are mainly the "impossibility of co-existence between GM crops and conventional and/or organic crops in the Autonomous Area of Madeira" with agricultural measures that are taken into account.
Natural measures refers to the "effects of introducing GMOs into nature (in the case of the RAM, the natural Madeiran forest) [that] have not been adequately studied."
As the EFSA GMO Panel aknowledges "the main arguments [...] focus on the coexistence between cropping systems and the adventitious presence of authorised GM material in non-GM products." But then does not consider these arguments: "Although the EFSA GMO Panel recognised that ensuring the coexistence between cropping systems is an important agricultural issue, the EFSA GMO Panel did not comment on this issue, as it falls outside its remit."
Scientific opinion therefore only concentrates on five points of concerns that the EFSA GMO Panel identified. For most of the points the GMO Panel comes to the conclusion that there is no new evidence.
One important point was the question whether or not "Large-scale field studies not being appropriate to assess possible adverse effects of GMOs to the particular biodiversity of Madeira" and whether or not "Cross-pollination and invasiveness in local flora and its consequences", leading tot he question whether the environment, ecology and biodiversity of Madeira was different enough from other regions in the EU to merit a seperate risk assessment.
Climatic difference - Madeira has oceanic subtropical climate - or the native rainforests are apparently not considered as different enough for GMO Panel. Instead the GMO Panel comes to the conclusion that since there no environmental studies with GM plantes were conducted in Madeira, it could not be stated that the GM crops would "produce a specific risk" on Madeira.
This argument appears to be circular: unless GM crops are planted for environmental studies there is no proof to stop their planting.
Unsurpridingly the GMO Panel comes to the conclusion that there are no scientific reasons to ban GMO cultivation on Madeira.
But since the EFSA did not look into the agricultural issues, it remains unclear who will assess them for the EU Commission.