European Commission's GMO decision

Where does a person who has just started to warm the MEP seat get the audacity to arbitrarily make the rash decision to give the green light to allow the growing of the GM Amflora potato in the EU? What made Commissioner John Dalli decide the much debated issue that has gone on for years without anyone, in the past, taking on such a responsibility? Who has advised him into taking this decision and on what grounds can he justify the risk? His justifications as quoted in The Times certainly do not hold water.

"Mr Dalli said the variety would be cultivated only by designated growers under contract to the starch industry." How is he to guarantee that a couple of sacks will not "fall off the end of a lorry"?

He went on to say, "because potatoes reproduce through propagation rather than through pollen-transfer, the risk of spreading the genetic material to the other varieties was limited". It is news to me that potatoes are reproduced by taking cuttings from parent stock since that is what "propagation" means in the growing world! Unless another "plus point" from GM production has stopped nature's traditional method of the parent potato reproducing its offspring through the rooting system! Mr Dalli or whoever advised him also does not seem to be aware that the potato does flower and hence the risk of transferring pollen from one plant to another is still there. There again, unless GM has even done away with nature's instinct to enable pollination as a result of flowering.

"Commissioner Dalli has now steam-rolled a decision through without even holding a debate with all the commissioners." What's the big rush that does not even merit the normal process of democracy, Commissioner Dalli?

Mr Dalli said: "Any delay in taking a decision now would be unjustified." Unjustified against whom, may I ask?

Finally, is this decision, in any way, going to affect the excellent stand Malta has (so far) taken on GMOs?