There is no wide ban of GMO's in the EU there is an authorization process (which isn't technically unique for GMO's any type of new crop or livestock has to be approved) and most of them do get authorised, only a few GMO products those which were engineered to produce biotoxins that can act as pesticide are actually banned.
This isn't a process that would take a year or even two, it is likely to take decades and in all honesty it's more likely to be reversed than expanded.
And more importantly since the GMO ban is effectively a ban only on cultivation this is more of a step to protect and subsidise the farmers in the EU rather than an ecological or public health related policy.
As long as the US, China and AfriChina (read about it) produces GMO crops and exports them it wouldn't matter.
Environmental risk of GMOs is not limited to biotoxins. I imagine parent commenter was mostly referring to the impact of Roundup, a synthetic pesticide used in GMO crops.
You do understand that normal crops require at the least as much pesticide and herbicide as GMO's right?
The environmental impact is monoculture and even that isn't exclusive to GMO's and the real one that effectively the farmers have to give in to the demands of the seed companies and they often are forced to sign exclusivity deals for their fields.
>You do understand that normal crops require at the least as much pesticide and herbicide as GMO's right?
Doesn't sound like you read the article. Suggest you do. Here is a supplementary source as well.
A paper published in the peer-reviewed Environmental Sciences Europe found that overall, GMO technology drove up herbicide use by 527 million pounds, or about 11 percent, between 1996 (when Roundup Ready crops first hit farm fields) and 2011. By 2011, farms using Roundup Ready seeds were using 24 percent more herbicide than non-GMO farms planting the same crops.[1]
http://ec.europa.eu/food/dyna/gm_register/index_en.cfm
And before you go and post the 19 countries that "opted out", this doesn't mean it's actually banned.
For example Germany has "GMO Free Zones" but they are still plenty of farmers growing GMO's.
http://www.gmo-free-regions.org/gmo-free-regions/germany.htm...
This isn't a process that would take a year or even two, it is likely to take decades and in all honesty it's more likely to be reversed than expanded.
And more importantly since the GMO ban is effectively a ban only on cultivation this is more of a step to protect and subsidise the farmers in the EU rather than an ecological or public health related policy.
As long as the US, China and AfriChina (read about it) produces GMO crops and exports them it wouldn't matter.