Slovakia against loosening GMO rules cites public concerns

Slovakia will vote against the European Commission’s proposal to loosen EU GMO rules by exempting plants produced using new genomic techniques from the GMO directive as they lower demand for risky pesticides, Slovakia’s Agriculture Ministry announced on Tuesday.

New genomic techniques or NGT for short, are different from other genetically modified organisms in that they do not use foreign genetic material. They are more resistant to disease, pests or drought, which also lowers the demand for pesticides. In a proposal, set to be unveiled in July, the Commission is expected to propose a loosening of GMO rules.

For Slovakia, however, this is already a no-go.

“The Slovak Republic has long held an unchanging position on GMOs. Considering the fact that the Slovak public rejects GMO food and feed, Slovakia will support products without the use of GMOs,” the country’s agriculture ministry has said.

Slovakia would vote against proposals that would allow “products made, containing or consisting of GMO raw materials or sources”, it added.

Insufficient backing for the proposal would deal another blow to the Commission in its efforts to green agriculture across EU member states. While the EU’s pesticide reduction goal under the Farm to Fork strategy – 50% by 2030 – aims to lower risks for human health and biodiversity, it is facing scrutiny for its impacts on food security. Similar arguments are threatening its Nature Restoration Law.

But according to the Commission, NGTs are no more dangerous to human health than other forms of plant cultivation, the EU executive wrote in a study it published in 2021 – a finding recently reiterated by Czech MEP Michaela Šojdrová (EPP) who said “the processes are very similar to the natural course of mutation, only they are accelerated.”

Slovakia’s opposition comes as over 400,000 EU citizens have so far expressed their opposition to the Commission’s planned proposal in a petition.

According to the petition, companies developing the disputed techniques are also not satisfied with the European Commission’s proposal. They find the proposed process for authorisation “too complex and burdensome”, says Euroseeds, the European seed association.

Euroseeds also dislikes the ban on the use of NGTs in organic farming, which it considers “illogical and discriminatory”.

(Barbara Zmušková, Marián Koreň | EURACTIV.sk)