Anger at Roche's GM abstention

A farmers' representative group has joined environmental campaigners in condemning a decision by the Minister for the Environment, Mr Roche, to abstain on an EU vote to legalise a controversial new type of genetically modified (GM) food.

The Irish Cattle and Sheepfarmers' Association (ICSA) said the EU Commission was likely to authorise the use of the oilseed rape product GT73 because a qualified majority of EU environment ministers failed to vote against it.

Ireland was one of seven countries to abstain in the Council of Ministers' ballot on Monday.

Six countries voted in favour of authorising GT73, and 12 countries voted against, leaving the anti-GM lobby marginally short of the necessary majority to have the product banned.

A spokesman for the Department of the Environment said the decision to abstain was based on a number of reasons, including scientific advice.

He noted Ireland had sought strengthened procedures to monitor the loss of seed during transport but this proposal was not taken into account in the resolution put before the Council of Ministers.

ICSA rural development chairman Mr John Heney said the Minister's decision was symptomatic of a wider failure to have a proper debate on GM policy in Ireland.

"As a food-exporting nation that can benefit from a natural green image, this simply isn't good enough. GM production methods make farmers dependent on big business, and result in food production that consumers don't want."

Mr Michael O'Callaghan, co-ordinator of the GM Free Ireland Network, also warned that the EU Commission was now likely to approve GT73, which is patented by US multinational Monsanto.

He said the product, which was engineered to withstand a Monsanto weedkiller, was far more dangerous than other GM animal feeds because it was a living GM seed that sprouted easily and grew rapidly, thereby increasing the risk of contaminating other plants.

Independent MEP Ms Kathy Sinnott (Munster) was "outraged" by Mr Roche's decision to abstain in the vote, saying he had "no mandate from the Irish people" to do so.