Scotland to Ban the Production of GM Crops

The Scottish government is intending to ban the production of all genetically modified crops including those approved by EU regulatory bodies, according to an announcement by the country’s rural affairs secretary, despite the fact that the safety of GM crops approved by the EU has been “supported by a global scientific consensus”.

Earlier this year, the EU Commission approved a new law allowing member states to ban the cultivation of GM crop for reasons ‘other than science’, which could include socio-economic impacts and country planning.

As could be expected, the announcement was welcome by anti-GMO group, but was highly criticized by scientists, farm groups, and agribusiness leaders who affirm that the safety of GM crops approved by the EU has been “supported by a global scientific consensus”.

An official request will soon be submitted to EU authorities to ban the cultivation of GM crops including the already approved maize variety MON810 and six additional genetically modified crops awaiting EU approval.

So far only Latvia and Greece have taken advantage of the new law submitting requests to ban GM crop cultivation within their territories, according to EU Commission spokesperson for health and food safety, Enrico Brivio, although nine countries including Austria, Hungary, Luxembourg, Germany, Bulgaria, Greece, Italy, France, and Poland have previously banned the production of MON810.

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