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ITALY JOINS OPPOSITION TO GMO MAIZE

BRUSSELS, 7 March 1997

Greenpeace today welcomed the decision of the Italian government to challenge the European Commission by using its legal rights under EU law to ban the cultivation of genetically engineered maize.

The Italian Ministry of Health confirmed to Greenpeace today that it has informed its European partners of its decision, thus becoming the third EU Member State to invoke emergency powers to contest a European Commission ruling. In December last year the Commissioners bowed to US pressure and made their controversial decision to allow the cultivation and import of Ciba-Geigy's `Bt' maize, even though 13 of the 15 Member States had opposed such a move.

Article 16 of the EU directive which governs the release of genetically engineered organisms - Council Directive 90/220/EEC - gives Member states the right to effectively veto a Commission decision to allow a product, if they think it "constitutes a risk to human health or the environment". Austria and Luxembourg took the unprecedented step of using Article 16 in early February. A week later the French government, which had originally proposed the maize to its European partners, decided that it should not be grown commercially in France.

"The USA and the Commission tried to bully Member States into acceptance of this experimental crop, and it did not work" said Louise Gale of Greenpeace's European Unit. "States which have examined the evidence realise that there are environmental dangers associated with Ciba-Geigy's new strain. All the Commission has done with its heavy-handedness is to decrease public confidence in the EU decision-making process. We congratulate Italy on standing up for their rights and for protecting the environment and urge other Member States to follow suit."

For further information please contact:

Louise Gale at the Greenpeace European Unit tel: +32 2 2801400

Peter Morris at Greenpeace International tel: +31 20 5249529

Editors note:

France and Italy produced about 65% of the 33 million tons of the EU maize crop in 1996. The EU imports about 2 million tons from the USA.