Green Options

M S Swaminathan, ‘The Father of Economic Ecology’ is on record as saying that GMOs shouldn’t be grown in or marketed to the developed world, where they aren’t necessary, but should be created for the developing world, to meet the food needs of large populations living in poverty and to allow such nations to develop a reliable food surplus that they can sell to the developed world.

In the European Union, there is only one permissible genetically-modified crop — and that is Monsanto’s MON 810 engineered corn.  But current law allows individual countries to bar the production of genetically-modified crops, and the MON 810 ban has been gaining momentum throughout the continent. This is despite the European Union’s continuous fight to force GM production, such as in the recent failed attempt to overturn Austria and Hungary’s ban.

Late last month, Luxembourg joined Hungary, France, Austria and Greece in banning Monsanto’s corn.  According to Luxembourg’s Health Minister Mars Di Bartolomeo, studies addressing the grain’s safety have failed to “conclude that MON810 is completely innocuous”.

Yesterday, Germany brought the number of dissenting countries to six by also banning MON 810.  German Agriculture Minister, Ilse Aigner, went a step beyond Luxembourg’s position, and stated outright that she feels “there are just reasons to assume that the genetically modified maize MON 810 represents a danger for the environment.”

On the table in the European Union yesterday was the question of MON 810 Maize, a genetically-modified type of of corn.  Developed by the United States-based Monsato Company, MON 810 releases an insecticide intended to kill European corn borer larvae before the pests can harm the plant.  Although the engineered corn is currently approved for cultivation in the European Union, individual member-states within the EU have the authority to enact bans against growing GM crops.

Hungary, Austria, Greece and France have already made a stand against MON 810 by completely banning its cultivation within their borders.  But yesterday, the European Commission attempted to reverse Hungary and Austria’s ban.