Saiu na Nature v397n6721, pp636....
The Spanish government has decided that companies that produce or plant
genetically modified crops must contribute to a 90 million Euro (US$100
million) insurance fund intended to cover environmental accidents. The move
reflects growing calls for tougher restrictions on such crops from
opposition political parties, non-governmental organizations, and
consumers' associations.
As a result of this pressure, the government's approach to transgenic crops
will be debated in parliament this week after two left-wing parties
expressed concern that Spain has authorized the planting of genetically
modified crops that have not yet been approved in other countries of the
European Community.
Environmental issues have become more controversial in Spain since last
year's ecological disaster, when thousands of tons of toxic waste spilled
into the DoŅana national park last April after a retaining wall collapsed
at the AznalcŪllar mines in Seville. One party, the Bloque Nacionalista
Gallego, is seeking either a moratorium or a strict limit on the import of
such crops. The movement Ecologists in Action, which includes more than 300
environment-related organizations, has called for a ban on the 22
experimental field trials by the company Monsanto that have already been
approved by the country's biosafety commission.
Concern has been triggered by the high importation of modified crops,
especially maize and soya. Between 15,000 and 20,000 hectares are said to
have already been planted with such maize from the company Novartis. The
number of licences for test plantings has increased from 36 in 1996 to 124
by January of this year.
Transgenic foodstuffs became an issue in Spain in 1996, when seven
Greenpeace activists held a protest in Barcelona against a boat containing
45,000 tons of soya, 2 per cent of which was genetically modified. Cristina
Narbona, the environment-commission spokesperson of the socialist party
PSOE, has urged the government to support demands being made at the
biodiversity protocol meeting in Colombia to base the protocol on the
so-called "precautionary principle". Xavier Bosch
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