“We think that countries themselves have to decide if they look at these problems really seriously and scientifically and based on economic and social calculations, or follow populist slogans, which are not a rarity in this field,” he said on the Žinių Radijas radio.
Andriukaitis said that if EU member states did not state their opinion, the European Commission would have to make the decision.
“Under existing regulation, member countries did not express their opinion and the European Commission has to adopt a decision all by itself. Then it is very easy to accuse the Commission of failing to take into account the public’s sceptical position on GM feed,” he said.
According to the Lithuanian commissioner, a decision to let each individual country to decide whether or not to import GM feed might cause problems to the food industry in some states. Currently, 25 EU member states import about 32 million tons of GM feed annually.
Maize is currently the only GM crop allowed to be grown commercially in the EU. It is grown in five EU member states, including the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Spain, Portugal and Romania.
GM crops are not grown in Lithuania.
Be the first to comment