LMP: EP vote on GMO plants ‘potentially detrimental to Hungary, Europe’

Written by BT/MTI

The European Parliament has passed a proposal on allowing the trade of “a new type of uncontrolled, gene-modified produce”, opposition LMP said on Thursday, adding that the vote’s results could be “extremely detrimental to Hungary and Europe”.

LMP lawmaker Laszlo Lorant Keresztes, the head of parliament’s sustainable development committee, told an online press conference that the plants in question would be exempt from strict EU regulations on food safety and environmental security. Producers would have no liability, he said.

He noted that the proposal had been voted down in November, prompting vigorous lobbying from large corporations.

Under a 2018 ruling of the EU court, all GMO produce must be strictly regulated, he added.

He called on the government to cooperate with political and professional groups opposing the proposal, and to “do everything they can” to keep Hungary GMO-free. If the proposal is adopted, member states would have to forgo safe, GMO-free food, and seed grains would be controlled by agricultural giants, he warned.