PRESS RELEASE NETHERLANDS: A "SOFT TOUCH" ON GMOs? FoE calls for legal investigation Friends of the Earth Europe have today called on the European Commission to fully investigate the actions of the Dutch Government regarding an application for genetically modified (GM) crop approval made by the company Monsanto. In January, the Dutch authorities gave a favourable opinion on Monsantos application for a new GM oilseed rape, but Friends of the Earth Europe claims that Monsanto's scientific assessment of the GM crop was so poor that it is questionable whether it meets basic legal requirements. On January 22nd the Dutch Government forwarded Monsantos application for the GM oilseed rape (called GT73) to the European Commission [1], recommending that it should be approved for import into the EU. However, when Monsantos application was circulated to other member states for consultation, it received strong criticism from the UK Government [2], which stated that Monsanto: - supplied low quality, inconsistent data to support their application - failed to propose an adequate system for the labelling of the GM oilseed rape. Among other things the UK authorities insist that Monsanto accompanies each batch of material containing GT73 oilseed rape with a document stating that this GMO is not approved for cultivation in Europe. - failed to present an adequate plan for the post market monitoring of GT73 oilseed rape. - supplied no information on how they would prevent seed being spilled during transport (something that occurs commonly with oilseed rape) and gave no information on what monitoring or action plans they would need to deal with such spillages. Friends of the Earth have written to the European Commission calling for an investigation into whether the Dutch Government acted in line with the legal requirements of Directive 2001/18 by approving this application. The Directive clearly states that member states need to check that applications meet the legal standards before forwarding them, and in this case, it did not. In the light of this criticism, Friends of the Earth Europe is concerned that eight out of ten GM food applications since 1998 have been made through the Netherlands, suggesting that biotech companies may be considering the Netherlands as a "soft touch" on GMOs. Geert Ritsema, GMO Campaign Co-ordinator for Friends of the Earth Europe said: "Europe has fought hard for tough laws to protect consumers and the environment from the effects of genetically modified products. It is therefore worrying that such a poor standard of application should get through so easily. Monsanto doesnt appear to have met basic legal requirements and we call on the Commission to fully investigate the role the Dutch Government has played in this. If this poor standard is accepted as the norm then the GMO legislation won't be worth the paper its printed on and consumers will have every right to reject these foods." Contact: Geert Ritsema, GMO Campaign Co-ordinator: 00-31-6-290 05 908 `ENDS Notes to Editors 1. The notification: C/NL/98/11is for the import and consumption of Monsantos GM oilseed rape (GT73) that has been modified to resist the companys own herbicide. 2. Response of the UK Competent Authority, 25 March 2003. Friends of the Earth is the largest grassroots environmental network in the world campaigning to protect the environment and to create sustainable societies. Friends of the Earth Europe (FoEE) unites more than 30 national member groups with thousands of local groups.