THIRD WORLD NETWORK BIOSAFETY INFORMATION SERVICE

6 April 2005

Dear friends and colleagues,

RE: POLAND TO BAN GM MAIZE MON 810

Following Hungary’s ban on GM maize MON 810 hybrid seeds in January (see BIS dated 1 Feb 2005), a second central European country, Poland, has now announced that it plans to ban the import and planting of 17 varieties of the maize seed for two years.

Poland will soon notify its plan to ban the seed to the European Commission and expects a decision within one to two months. While MON 810 is approved for cultivation across the 25-nation European Union, individual countries have discretion on whether to allow it and other GM crops on their national territory.

A large number of European countries have voiced their reservations about MON 810. Austria which also bans the GM maize seed, told the Council of European Union that MON 810 should not be commercially planted given the concern about the scientific uncertainties about possible effects of the GM maize as well as the absence of a meticulous plan to monitor these effects (see BIS dated 8 Mar 2005). These concerns were shared by 13 other countries which have given their support to the Austrian statement.

For countries which are considering the approval of MON 810, it is important that they also take these concerns seriously and they are encouraged to take a similar precautionary approach in order to protect public health and the environment.

With best wishes,

Lim Li Lin and Chee Yoke Heong
Third World Network
121-S Jalan Utama
10450 Penang
Malaysia
Email: twnet@po.jaring.my
Website

REF: Doc.TWN/Biosafety/2005/I

Poland to Ban Monsanto GMO Maize Seed
By Reuters
23 Mar 2005

WARSAW - Poland wants to ban the import and planting of 17 varieties of genetically modified (GMO) maize seed made by US biotech giant Monsanto for two years, a senior Farm Ministry official said on Tuesday.

The EU newcomer will soon notify its plan to ban the seed, made from a parent seed known as MON 810, to the European Commission and expects a decision within one to two months, said Wieslaw Podyma, deputy director at the ministry's plant protection department.

Poland is the second central European country to ban a GMO maize type after Hungary, which outlawed the planting of Monsanto's MON 810 hybrid seeds in January.

While MON 810 is permitted across the 25-nation bloc, individual countries have discretion on whether to allow it and other gene-altered crops on their national territory.

"We are not yet announcing a ban. We are going to submit a motion to ban the imports and trading of 17 types of genetically modified MON 810 seeds for two years," Podyma said. "The ban will be introduced if Brussels approves this.

"Our motion was prepared on a different basis than in the case of Hungary. We have had no field experience related to these types of maize in Poland," he added.

Hungary banned biotech seed planting pending tests to establish whether GMO crops contaminated other crops and said old stocks must be destroyed, although it will continue to allow GMO maize in food production.

No GMO crops are yet grown in Poland, where maize production reached around 2.3 million tonnes last year.

Environmental lobby group Greenpeace welcomed Poland's decision and called on all EU member states to take action to prevent cultivation of gene crops in Europe.

Opponents of the genetic modification have expressed concern that the new EU countries, many of them relatively poor ex-communist states, could provide a back door for GMO production -- a claim strongly denied by the biotech industry.

In the late 1990s, Austria, France, Greece, Italy and Luxembourg imposed national bans on a number of GMO products.