ANOTHER MOMENT OF SILENCE, PLEASE

European Commission to give go-ahead for GM maize (Stephen Castle, The New Zealand Herald, September 11th, 2004)

Seventeen varieties of genetically modified maize are to be made available for planting throughout the EU after a decision that environmental campaigners claimed could lead to contamination of conventional crops.

The move, which is the first of its kind by the European Commission, came as the authorities also opened the way to license the import and processing of a GM oilseed rape produced by the biotech company Monsanto
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Environmental campaigners attacked both decisions, claiming that there was no popular mandate for wider use of GM crops. However they welcomed a separate decision by the European Commission to shelve plans for rules on seed purity, which would have set thresholds for GM content.

Under pressure from the United States, which argues that EU restrictions on GM produce breach global trading rules, Brussels is moving slowly to free up Europe as a market.

Population control, generous social welfare, the supremacy of the United Nations, inevitable European integration, Kyoto, international law, anti-globalization and genetically unmodified crops. The articles of faith of postmodern Europe are looking pretty shaky these days.