Poland will propose to the European Union that it introduces a complete ban on cultivating, feeding or trading any genetically modified agricultural products, Farm Minister Marek Sawicki said Sept. 23.
The biggest ex-communist EU member does not have a proper overall GMO legal regulatory framework after attempts failed to reach a political agreement in the parliament.
Since we are unable to adjust our country law to the European regulations, and since we cannot be successful in writing down a full ban on freeing GMO organisms into the environment, then we have to try to change the EU law, he said.
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Poland faces the threat of financial penalties for not aligning our law to the bloc s one, Sawicki told Reuters.
Poland, where farmers account to some 13 per cent of the population of 38 million, faces parliamentary elections on October 9 and parties are campaigning against genetically modified food products.
The idea is likely to face strong opposition from the European Commission which has sole power to propose changes to EU-wide rules on GMOs and from EU countries that grow GM crops commercially, such as Spain and Germany.
Sawicki added he flagged his idea to EU s farm commissioner Dacian Ciolos and the chair of the European Parliament s Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development, Paolo De Castro, who agreed an EU-wide debate on GMO was needed.
Only two GM crops are currently approved for cultivation in Europe: Monsanto s insect-resistant MON 810 maize and BASF s Amflora potato. Spain was Europe s largest GM grower in 2010 with around 70,000 planted hectares, compared to about 150 million hectares worldwide.
