Spain: GM acreage increased by 19%

According to provisional data of the Spanish Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Environment (MAGRAMA), the area that is cultivated with GM crops in Spain increased by 19% on 2012. "It's unfortunate to see how GM acreage in Spain continues to rise when more and more European countries ban those crops and when even biotech giants pull out of Europe. This does not make sense”, explains Luis Ferreirim, responsible for the Agriculture and GMO campaign of Greenpeace Spain. "Greenpeace will not tire of asking to ban the cultivation of GM crops in Spain because of their serious risks, they are not necessary, they do not have better yields than conventional varieties and the public does not want them".

Greenpeace reiterates the lack of transparency and reliability of the data published by MAGRAMA, since they are estimates from the seed sales data supplied by the same industry and demands, while GM crops are cultivated in Spain, the compliance with Directive 18/2001 EC and the creation of a public record with the exact location of the plots where GM crops are grown. In February 2013, Greenpeace filed a complaint against Spain before the European Commission for breach of the European Directive on the deliberate release of GMOs into the environment and public access to environmental information.

Greenpeace