barcelona

The Spanish government has decided that companies that produce or plant genetically modified crops must contribute to a 90 million Euro (US$100 million) insurance fund intended to cover environmental accidents. The move reflects growing calls for tougher restrictions on such crops from opposition political parties, non-governmental organizations, and consumers' associations.

As a result of this pressure, the government's approach to transgenic crops will be debated in parliament this week after two left-wing parties expressed concern that Spain has authorized the planting of genetically modified crops that have not yet been approved in other countries of the European Community.

Environmental issues have become more controversial in Spain since last year's ecological disaster, when thousands of tons of toxic waste spilled into the Doñana national park last April after a retaining wall collapsed at the Aznalcóllar mines in Seville.

One party, the Bloque Nacionalista Gallego, is seeking either a moratorium or a strict limit on the import of such crops. The movement Ecologists in Action, which includes more than 300 environment-related organizations, has called for a ban on the 22 experimental field trials by the company Monsanto that have already been approved by the country's biosafety commission.

Concern has been triggered by the high importation of modified crops, especially maize and soya. Between 15,000 and 20,000 hectares are said to have already been planted with such maize from the company Novartis. The number of licences for test plantings has increased from 36 in 1996 to 124 by January of this year.

Transgenic foodstuffs became an issue in Spain in 1996, when seven Greenpeace activists held a protest in Barcelona against a boat containing 45,000 tons of soya, 2 per cent of which was genetically modified.

Cristina Narbona, the environment-commission spokesperson of the socialist party PSOE, has urged the government to support demands being made at the biodiversity protocol meeting in Colombia to base the protocol on the so-called ‘precautionary principle’.