Published on Wednesday, September 17, 2008 by Inter Press Service
Transgenic Crops’ Days May Be Numbered In Europe
European Farmers and Civil Society Lead Resistance to GM Model Pushed by Industry
by Mario de Queiroz
LISBON – Pressure from the president of the European Commission has not succeeded in
advancing the cause of transgenic crops. In spite of the power wielded by the
executive organ of the European Union, the bloc’s member countries are gradually
discontinuing the use of genetically modified seeds.
This is due in large measure to the difficulty of convincing European farmers
to adopt the transgenic crop production model, which is being promoted by biotech
giants, but also to increasingly vociferous protests from civil society, which is
demanding that governments take an active role, according to an expert interviewed
by IPS.