Dive Brief:
- The European Union has reached a compromise over a controversial plan that could have expanded the production of GMO crops.
- Under the deal, any member state can ban the production of any GMO crop within its borders - even when the EU itself allows for such cultivation.
- The compromise appeared to do little to appease either side. A continuation of legal and political fights is likely.
Dive Insight:
There may be no place on earth where GMOs are less popular than in continental Europe. And thus there's probably no place on earth where GMO crops are more rare.
Proponents of GMO production had hoped the EU might be moving toward a more accepting - and unified - market. The decision to let member states choose their own course, at least so long as that course is anti-GMO, would suggest that no such scenario is likely anytime soon.