*EU court bans honey contaminated by genetically modified crop*
Beekeepers should be compensated - Greenpeace
*Luxembourg, 6 September 2011 - *The Court of Justice of the European Union
(ECJ) today banned beekeepers from selling honey contaminated by a
genetically modified (GM) crop.
The court ruled that honey from a German beekeeper could not be sold after
being contaminated by pollen from Monsanto‚s MON810 maize, one of only two
GM crops cultivated for commercial purposes in Europe.
*Greenpeace EU agriculture policy adviser Stefanie Hundsdorfer said:* *„The
ECJ ruling highlights how conventional and genetically modified agriculture
cannot co-exist. When a GM crop is grown in open fields, contamination is
impossible to stop. It‚s a scandal there‚s no Europe-wide liability regime
to protect beekeepers or farmers affected by GM crops. Monsanto and the
Bavarian state that grew the crop should be held fully liable for this
genetic pollution and compensate any beekeeper affected.‰*
**
The German beekeeper‚s hives were 500 metres from a test field of MON810 on
Bavarian government land. MON810 is currently authorised for a limited
number of food uses, excluding GM pollen in honey, and the court‚s ruling
upholds the EU‚s zero tolerance rules for unauthorised GM contamination. The
ruling could make it easier for German beekeepers to claim compensation,
something still to be decided by a German court.
In Europe, MON810 is grown mainly in Spain, and to a much lesser extent in
Portugal, the Czech Republic, Poland, Slovakia and Romania.
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