Difficult debate over GMO's

12^th March 2012

On 9th March the 27 EU Environment Ministers discussed the possibility of a Member State being able to refuse GMO's, authorised by the European authorities, being cultivated on their territory. A compromise put forward by the Danish presidency suggests that these restrictions would be possible under certain conditions, during and after the authorisation process. But Member States' representatives could not adopt this compromise because of concern over incompatibility with WTO rules and the desire to avoid repetitions and incoherence with existing European rules. Ministers also prepared the next Durban Round conferences and Rio+20.

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