www.checkbiotech.org ; www.raupp.info ; www.czu.cz

Austria's Green Party found no support for their request to debate
genetically modified (GM) technology in the national council meeting during
February, 2006.

Although a suitable term settlement application was voted on, it was not
debated.

The Greens announced in a press conference on Monday that they wanted to
mainly focus on the GM dispute between the EU and the USA, Argentina and
Canada.

Eva Glawischnig, the Deputy Federal Speaker, and Wolfgang Pirklhuber, the
Agriculture Speaker, said that an anti-GM offensive should be encouraged
during the Austrian presidency of the EU-council.

The background for the call was the interim WTO report released last week
concerning the 1998 ? 2004 EU GM Moratorium. If the WTO preliminary decision
is confirmed in June, then GM seeds may also be permitted next year in
Austria, according to Glawischnig.

Glawischnig has asked the government to uphold the Austrian import ban on GM
food andcrops. An EU law to safeguard GM-free regions as well as reform of
the European food agency (EFSA) was necessary, thought Pirklhuber.

[www.wienerzeitung.at]

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