The agriculture committee of the European Parliament has voted against a draft law which would give individual member states the power to determined policy on imports of GM food and feed.

The committee fears that 'arbitrary' national bans could distort competition on the EU's single market and jeopardize food production sectors that are heavily dependent on imports of GM feed.

The European Commission's draft law would give territories the power to restrict or ban the use of GM food or feed, even if it has been approved by the European Union.

In a meeting yesterday, the agriculture committee adopted 28 votes in favor to eight against, with six abstentions. This will now be scrutinized by the environment committee next month before parliament discusses the matter later this year in a plenary session to be held in Strasbourg.

"Today’s vote in the agriculture committee sends a clear message: the Commission's proposal to allow member states to decide whether or not to restrict or ban the use of GM food and feed on their territory must be rejected," MEP Albert Dess said in a release.

"We have not been building the EU's single market to let arbitrary political decisions distort it completely.

"The Commission's approach is completely unrealistic. We have many sectors in the EU that rely to a great extent on imports of GM feed and would not be able to survive if banned."

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