Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2000-04-11-Speech-2-273"
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"en.20000411.10.2-273"2
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"Mr President, genetic engineering and biotechnology are the key technologies of the future. If we in the EU hamper or even block the use of genetically modified organisms, we shall be manoeuvring ourselves into a backwater in this important area. We are already lagging far behind other countries. The resultant competitive disadvantages for researchers, breeders, seed growers, farmers and even consumers would be immense. But it is precisely these obstruction tactics which several groups within the European Union are applying. They of course appear to be rather ideological in nature because generally there are no material grounds for them.
This attempt at obstruction can be found in a series of proposed amendments in the Bowe report. They are distinguished by the fact that they demand the impossible, knowing full well that these demands cannot be met and can therefore block the release of GMOs in general. This applies in particular to genetic transfer, which simply cannot be prevented in the open air, and to the question of liability. The call for special liability means that farmers dare not use GMOs. I also think that keeping a register of cultivated land beyond the experimental stage is unrealistic because I assume that 80-90% of farmland would be entered in such as register in a few years’ time.
No one wants to play down genetic engineering, including me. But nor can we demonise it. Farmers have always endeavoured to use targeted breeding and cultivation techniques in order to develop efficient plant and animal material. Techniques continue to develop, including in breeding and cultivation and one new technique is genetic modification. It is our task to ensure that this technology is used responsibly, not to prevent it."@en1
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