Le Parlement européen se prononce sur les "nouveaux OGM"
Le Parlement européen vote mercredi sur une proposition d'assouplissement réglementaire pour les végétaux issus de biotechnologies génomiques - promesse de semences plus résistantes, selon leurs partisans, "nouveaux OGM" potentiellement dangereux, pour leurs détracteurs.
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Transcript
00:00 The European Parliament votes on Wednesday on a proposal for regulatory easing for genomic biotechnology-based vegetables,
00:06 promises of more resistant seeds, according to their supporters, new potentially dangerous GMOs, for their detractors.
00:13 The text, which must be voted on at midday by the MEPs gathered in Strasbourg,
00:18 aims to exempt some of the varieties from these new genomic techniques (NGTs)
00:23 from the rules governing genetically modified organisms (GMOs).
00:26 This vote opens the way for future negotiations with Member States which,
00:31 very divided, have not yet stopped their position on the text.
00:34 Seeds and varieties manipulated by NGOs can therefore present modifications
00:39 likely to occur naturally or via traditional crossings.
00:42 In this case, the new legislation provides that drastic rules governing GMOs,
00:48 long authorization procedures, health impact studies, traceability,
00:52 etiquettage, surveillance, would not apply.
00:55 It would be a category 1 NGT, defined in particular by a limited number of mutations.
01:01 All other NGT varieties, category 2, deemed non-equivalent to the conventional,
01:06 would remain subject to GMOs, with mandatory ticketing in particular.
01:10 "Our farmers are going through a difficult period, faced with floods,
01:15 droughts, which affect the quality and scope of crops",
01:18 said Swedish MEP, PPE, Jessica Polfsjär, reporter of the text, to the Parliament on Tuesday.
01:25 "They must have the tools in hand to face the future,
01:28 while climate change is there", she insisted.
01:32 Competitiveness
01:34 For them, NGOs can strengthen the competitiveness of European agriculture
01:38 and increase food production on the continent.
01:41 In its legislative proposal, the European Commission
01:45 wanted to further evaluate the questions of intellectual property,
01:48 thus leaving open the possibility that patents be filed on plants modified by NGOs.
01:53 The MEPs, in the compromise voted in parliamentary commission,
01:58 intend to completely ban patents on all NGT plants,
02:01 in order to avoid legal uncertainties,
02:04 increase in costs and new dependencies for farmers and farmers.
02:08 Other subjects have aroused significant disagreements
02:11 between the various political formations of the Parliament,
02:13 including the rules of ticketing and the possible grant of the label "Ebio" to NGT varieties.
02:18 Some NGT plants are also sure that the conventional ones
02:21 should be subject to the same rules, defended Tuesday by Commissioner Elena Dali.
02:26 Position shared by the right and the far right.
02:29 "There is no risk, there is no foreign genes in these plants",
02:33 Peter Liez, PPE, insists.
02:36 Clear ticketing
02:38 Judging the insufficient gaps, the left and the green call on their part
02:42 to strengthen the measures isolating NGT cultures,
02:44 to harden the requirements for traceability and detection methods,
02:48 while claiming systematic ticketing of NGT products.
02:51 "It takes clear ticketing so that organic farmers can continue to work,
02:56 that consumers have the choice to read on the label what they buy",
03:00 said German ecologist Martin Hossling.
03:03 "I am for innovation, for a NGT legislation, they are useful.
03:07 But I refuse to play the witch-hunter,
03:10 to abound the socialist Christophe Clergeau,
03:13 calling for protecting non-GMO sectors. "
03:15 He pointed out the opinion published in December by the French health agency ANS,
03:20 it estimated that NGT can lead to modifications
03:22 of the biological functions of plants not taken into account in the text
03:25 and potentially induce risks for health and the environment.
03:29 If this reform is called for by the powerful organization
03:32 of the major agricultural unions COPAC-OGK,
03:34 environmental NGOs and some unions, however,
03:37 ask that NGT remain subject to GMO regulation,
03:40 highlighting the principle of precaution.
03:43 Voting this text is going against the right of citizens to choose their diet,
03:47 it is killing the biological supply chain, killing peasant culture
03:50 by taking away the diversity of production,
03:52 estimates Sylvie Collat, national secretary of the peasant confederation.