July 27, 2010
GM proposal may disrupt EU feed supply
The new European Commission proposal on GM cultivation may exacerbate feed supply problems to EU livestock farmers due to the EU's high dependence on vital protein feed imports, European Feed Manufacturers' Federation (FEFAC) president Patrick Vanden Avenne said.
EU livestock farmers and feed manufacturers already paid a very high price due to the absence of practical threshold levels, he said, adding that the new proposal may actually further increase legal uncertainties for feed manufacturers and distortion of competition among EU livestock farmers.
Avenne hoped that the Commission will seriously take the request of all EU food and feed chain partners to rapidly adopt the "technical solution" while taking safeguard measures to avoid an implosion of the internal market for seed, feed and food, which may result from uncoordinated actions of Member States against which operators can take no coverage.
Earlier, in a move to resolve a 12-year deadlock that has resulted in a virtual freeze on the approval of GM farming, the European Commission has proposed allowing pro-GM states such as Spain and the Netherlands to increase production, while also allowing others such as Germany and Austria to maintain restrictions.