EU ministers to rule on lifting GM food ban

0 Comments | AFP, April, 2004

BRUSSELS (AFP) — EU agriculture ministers are to decide on Monday whether to lift a five-year ban on bio-engineered crops, when they rule on allowing the import of a type of genetically modified (GM) sweetcorn.

By allowing the Swiss firm Syngenta to import the sweetcorn, called Bt-11, the ministers would effectively scrap a moratorium on the import and cultivation of GM products imposed by the European Union in 1999.

But the ministers are widely expected to refer the thorny issue back to the European Commission -- the EU's executive arm -- which openly supports lifting the moratorium to encourage the GM industry in Europe.

The freeze was imposed against a backdrop of public disquiet in Europe on the issue of so-called "Frankenfoods", at the initiative of...