The decision to opt out of an EU directive on growing genetically modified organisms was yesterday welcomed by green groups.

Alternattiva Demokratika joined Friends of the Earth (Malta) in welcoming the government’s decision. FoE said this was a positive step that reflected the government’s previous votes on GMOs at EU level.

The organisation said outright rejection of genetically modified crops snowballed across Europe as governments or regions from most European countries took political steps to ensure their countries were GMO-free.

“There has never been a clearer signal that GMOs, and the companies that make them, are not wanted in Europe. The technology is not only risky, it’s redundant. People, and the governments that represent them, are rejecting them outright,” said FoE president Martin Galea De Giovanni.

Countries wishing to ban GMOs must apply to the European Commission and the case is reviewed by GMO-producing companies. These either accept or reject the ban.

“It’s Kafkaesque that the companies who profit from GMOs should be given jurisdiction over democratically-agreed decisions to ban GMOs. Corporate profits should not be put before people and the interests of Europe’s food and farming sectors,” the NGO said.

Alternattiva Demokratika said that the decision to proclaim Malta a GMO-free territory was the right one.

Results of the applications will be published next month and if rejected governments can still ban GMOs on agricultural, social and economic grounds.

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