The European Commission is set to authorize the growing of genetically modified maize on European soil, despite 19 member states voting against the move, highlighting the “absurd” rules of weighted votes in the EU.

In a debate on Tuesday, 19 EU member states indicated that they would vote against the authorization of genetically modified maize because of health and environmental concerns and opposition in the European Parliament.

But because of the so-called comitology rules of the EU, their votes will be insufficient to overturn the decision of bigger member states that support the introduction of insect resistant Pioneer 1507.

The UK (Owen Paterson is tipping the balance) and Spain are both in favor of GM crops, while Germany abstained and France is staunchly against their introduction.

European health Commissioner Tonio Borg said on Tuesday that the commission is now legally bound to approve the crop. Borg insisted that extensive research since 2001 had shown the crop was safe.

Britain has argued that without GM crops, Europe risks becoming “the museum of world farming,” and that there is a clear scientific case for GM, while Spain has said that its farmers need to be able to compete with non-EU nations that can grow GM produce.

DuPont, which jointly developed Pioneer 1507 with Dow Chemical, said in statement that the EU has a“legal obligation to itself, to its farmers and scientists and to its trade partners” to support the approval of new agricultural advances.

France however warned that if the European Commission goes ahead with the introduction of GM maize, then it risks fuelling further euroscepticism by granting approval in the face of fierce opposition.

(TAP – this looks like the wrong link.  I’ll go back to Colin.  Someone’s swapping his links over again!  It’s still a good report worth reating but not the same as the story billed in the write-up at the top)

Hi Tap –The link is correct.I added the book reference for anyone
who really wants to understand why GM food is so dangerous and why the
claim made in this latest EU disgrace that the crop in question has
been proved safe ,is nonsense.

The book is outstanding and also covers
good agricultural practice.

In a nutshell,the process whereby the body
obtains nourishment from the food and liquids consumed is highly
complex and nobody can say for sure what secondary affects there will
be when non-natural substances are introduced into these.

Cancers may
appear many years later,for example.

The Tap Blog is a collective of like-minded researchers and writers who’ve joined forces to distribute information and voice opinions avoided by the world’s media.