www.clickgreen.org.uk - September 6th, 2011
The European Court has delivered a landmark judgement that could affect the food industry across Europe and jeopardises the future of genetically modified crop research
Judges have ruled that honey and other food supplements contaminated with pollen from a genetically modified source can no longer be freely sold and can only be marketed with prior authorisation.
It is likely to have a massive knock-on effect for food producers, such as bee-keepers, who can now seek damages for being unable to sell their products, which have been inadvertently and unavoidably affected by traces of GM crop – such as pollen.
The case was referred to the European Court of Justice after an amateur bee-keeper argued the German state of Bavaria had wrecked his livelihood by sanctioning GM crop research on land neighbouring his bee hives.
The German courts were unsure if foodstuff, such as honey, could be classified as a genetically modified organism (GMO) as the pollen itself had lost its ability to reproduce and is totally incapable of transferring genetic material.
The directive on GMOs provides that such organisms may only be released deliberately into the environment or placed on the market when prior authorisation has been given.
2 comments:
GMOs scare me!
It does me also!!
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