Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2002-11-20-Speech-3-374"
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"en.20021120.12.3-374"2
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"Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, first of all, I would like to send Mrs Damião my best wishes for her continued recovery. I would like to express my thanks to her and her colleagues, but also to Mr Lage, for their excellent cooperation. The Group of the European People’s Party (Christian Democrats) and European Democrats supports the Damião report, not least because the whole thing – the action plan and the report – is based on a report by our fellow Member, John Purvis.
The Damião report sends out a positive signal for biotechnology, but it also makes clear where we need better rules than currently exist. The report deliberately does not paint a 'black and white' picture. There is, after all, a view that genetic technology may be very positive in healthcare, but must be rejected at all costs in agriculture. The report rejects this position.
We state quite clearly that there are opportunities in both sectors; in other words, there are opportunities in agriculture as well. Indeed, the report says that genetic technology can contribute towards finding genuine solutions to sustainable development, and I would like to emphasise this point. This is why we are opposed to the de facto moratorium. The Directive on the deliberate release of GMOs into the environment was adopted a long time ago. The Member States should have implemented it in national law by October. I sat on the Conciliation Committee with David Bowe at the time, and I never dreamed that so many years later, this de facto moratorium would still be in place. The report says that it must end by 2003. I believe that it should actually end now, because the deadline for the implementation of Directive 220/90 has already passed. Otherwise, SMEs in particular will suffer considerably, as Mrs Müller has already said.
Just as there are not only risks but also major benefits in the agricultural sector, there are not only benefits, but also major risks, in the medical field.
We see a danger, for example, in the uncontrolled use of DNA testing. DNA tests are not services like any other. They may only be carried out after competent, expert, independent and individual counselling, and this counselling must cover medical, ethical, social, psychological and legal aspects. A year ago, our group commissioned an expert report on this issue. This report says that the European Union has competence in this area. Offering DNA testing is either a cross-border service, or DNA tests are products traded in the internal market. This is why we need standards in this area, quality standards and standards relating, for example, to counselling. The Commission has a task here, and I ask the Commission to do what the report says, namely to initiate legislation."@en1
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