MEPs call for stricter controls on genetically modified fruit

Date:11-29-2007

The European Parliament's Agriculture Committee has urged the European Commission to impose restrictions on the use of genetically modified fruit lines. The call came in discussions on the Commission's proposed EU directive on marketing fruit plants and propagating material. The Commission advocates that only EU-approved GM fruit plants would be added to the catalogue of registered varieties. However, the Committee added an amendment that GM plants should only be used as rootstocks onto which required varieties are grafted. GM fruit plants should not be permitted for direct use in fruit production, to avoid the "uncontrolled spread of GMOs in the environment", says Greek MEP Ioannis Gklavakis. The Committee's report will go forward for a full parliamentary vote in December.