In April 2006, Friends of the Earth Europe welcomed a statement by the European Commission calling for major improvements in the activities of the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) on the issue of genetically modified (GM) foods and crops.

The environmental organisation accused the EFSA of being biased towards the biotech industry and believes that its work on GM foods should be halted until public and environmental safety can be guaranteed.

In a separate move, Austria confirmed a new ban on the import of Monsanto’s GM oilseed rape, a product that was passed as safe by the EFSA. The Austrian Government banned the GM seeds on the basis that no long term safety tests had been done and that imports would likely lead to the accidental spillage of the seeds in the environment.

The EFSA also published new opinions on bans of five GM products by Member States. They concluded that there is no reason to believe that the GM products in question will "cause any adverse effects for humans and animal health or the environment".

Commenting these developments, Adrian Bebb, GM campaigner for Friends of the Earth Europe, said: "The Commission should be welcomed for acknowledging a problem with their food safety authority, but it needs to go further. The Food Authority has for too long sided with the biotech industry and ingored any research or opinions that questioned the safety of genetically modified foods".

"The Commission should now suspend all new approvals until public and environmental safety can be guaranteed", he demanded.

For more information, please visit the Biotechnology & GMOs section of the Friends of the Earth Europe website.

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