Legal opinion on the deregulation proposal of new genetic techniques proves: Precautionary principle is being trampled underfoot
PRESS RELEASE - Brussels, 22. September 2023
Largely unnoticed by the public, EU legislation is currently being torn apart: the EU legislation on genetic engineering. If new genetic engineering was to be removed from the current legislation, this would not only have serious consequences for our agriculture and ecosystems. It would also ignore the precautionary principle, which must be the guiding principle of environmental policy. A legal opinion just published by the law firm GGSC, commissioned by the Bündnis 90/Die Grünen parliamentary group, shows how the proposed deregulation of so-called 'New Genomic Techniques' (NGTs) violates the precautionary principle. Martin Häusling, Greens' agricultural policy spokesperson in the European Parliament and member of the Environment and Health Committee is the Green responsible for the parliamentary work on the deregulation proposal. He comments:
‘The legal opinion on the EU Commission's deregulation proposal for new genetic engineering clearly shows that the precautionary principle is being trampled underfoot. The possible effects of the release of genetically modified organisms into sensitive ecosystems are ignored, consumers are to be deprived of the possibility to decide for themselves whether they want to eat genetically modified food or not. Also ‘new GMOs’ must remain strictly regulated. Precaution is better than aftercare, the effects of the uncontrolled spread of genetically modified plants would be absolutely negligent. The associated risks are not worth the propagated benefits - which are still only wishful thinking'.
Karl Bär, chairman of the Greens in the Bundestag's Committee on Food and Agriculture, comments:
‘The European Commission's proposal to deregulate new genetic engineering methods in agriculture is so bad that a lawsuit against it would have good chances of success. Our legal opinion has shown that the proposal violates the precautionary principle prescribed in the EU treaties. Precautionary principle means that risks are assessed and managed. But the Commission wants to abolish all measures to assess and avert environmental and health risks for plants modified with new genetic engineering methods. The abolition of a case-by-case assessment also violates the provisions of the Cartagena Protocol, which the EU has ratified.’
Link to the English version of the legal assessment (machine translation):
englisch version / version française
Link to the original German version of the legal assessment: https://www.gruene-bundestag.de/fileadmin/media/gruenebundestag_de/themen_az/gentechnik/pdf/Gruene_im_Bundestag_Gutachten__Vereinbarkeit_des_Kommissionsvorschlags_zu_NGT_mit_dem_Vorsorgeprinzip.pdf
