Big Biotech Seeks to Rule EUHeather Callaghan DuPont and Dow Chemical are poised to crash the EU with their co-created genetically modified 1507 Pioneer corn as well. A corporatocracy didnt just occur out the blue, however. Its potentially being handed to biotech by the European Environmental Ministers with a law that sounds like a national ban (but actually isnt.) Get this:according to Stop the Crop, the newproposal gives biotech companies the power to decide whether a national ban is permitted or not. Gee, which way will biotech decide? Discussion for the proposal takes place tomorrow, May 28th. For more information, Stop the Crop is referring people to Friends of the Earth Europes short document entitled: A poisoned chalice. Why the Greek Opt-out proposal for GM crops will do more harm than good. Sustainable Pulse explains A poisoned chalice this way: The new law is being promoted as a way to give governments more sovereignty over decisions on whether to ban GM crops. However, the current proposals give biotech companies the legal right to decide whether a ban should be allowed. If companies refuse, governments are forced to fall back on vague, non-scientific legal grounds upon which to ban GM crops, opening the door to legal challenges Adrian Bebb of FOE Europesaid: It is an affront to democracy that companies like Monsanto will be given legal status in any decision to ban their products. Governments must be able to ban unwanted and risky GM crops without needing thepermission of the companies who profit from them. For more than 15 years national governments have fought against new GM crops and strongly defended their rights to ban them. This proposal is a poisoned chalice that fails to give member states the solid legal grounds to ban genetically modified crops. The United States parallels the EU in a similar regard. Just on the heels of Vermont passing the first state GMO food labeling law, the DARK Act of 2014 (actual name is Safe and Accurate Food Labeling Act) threatens to nullify any past and future state laws regarding GMO labeling and bans. Recent posts byHeather Callaghan: 