Bayer and Monsanto have been granted once again permits to experiment with GMOs in environmentally protected areas in several Spanish provinces.

The municipalities where these experiments are taking place, whose results are not made public officially, are not taken into account in the decision making processes, according to Blanca Gonzalez, member of Friends of the Earth Spain.

European law as it stands today does not include affected communities in the decision making processes, stated Blanca.

“One of the dark aspects of the process is that the company applying for an authorization is not forced to state where the experiments are going to take place. Municipalities have asked to know the exact piece of land which will be used but they have not received any answer”, said Blanca Gonzalez.

This has caused direct negative consequences for organic farmers, who cannot be certified as such due to GM contamination.

The same happens with cattle farmers since, according to the member of FoE Spain, “no type of maize in Spain can be certified as non contaminated”.

Bayer and Monsanto aim to experiment in municipalities all through the European country. Many of these places include protected natural spaces, from Red Natura 2000 spaces to National Parks.

Open air trial fields are, in most cases, fields which multinational companies let from farmers to test new GM varieties (maize, potato, beet or cotton, among others). These are tests which are required by the European Food Safety Authority to authorize new varieties of Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs).

According to Spanish newspaper Diagonal “the records of the National Committee on Biosafety stating where GMOs are grown in Spain have not been made public since 2008. Companies such as Pioneer, Bayer and Monsanto are given free rein to experiment.” (http://www.diagonalperiodico.net/Cien-campos-secretos-de-prueba-de.html).

Spain is today an exception in Europe as it is the country of the European Union with the largest presence of GM crops. “Spain´s attitude in terms of biosafety is reckless”, said Blanca González.

However, she highlighted that the population strongly rejects the use of GM products in industrialized food.