[JURIST] European Union [official website] politicians on Tuesday approved [press release] a plan [EU backgrounder] allowing nations to ban genetically modified organisms (GMOs) on their soil. The plan, a compromise reached in June, gives national governments the final say in deciding on the use of EU-approved GMOs. Parliament’s Committee on Environment, Public Health and Food Safety [official website] approved [EU Business report] the new rule by a vote of 53-11. The committee chose to drop a provision allowing GMO companies to lobby nations for approval. The committee-ratified plan will now be discussed by member states then sent back to the EU Parliament for final approval.

The recent prevalence of GMO crops has been a point of contention in courts around the world. Earlier this month voters in Colorado rejected [JURIST report] a GMO labeling measure. In February US President Barack Obama [official profile] signed into law [press release] a $956 billion farm bill [text, PDF] providing expanded crop insurance and other benefits for the agricultural sector and also requiring changes in food labeling. In May Vermont Governor Peter Shumlin signed a bill [JURIST report] requiring the labeling of food containing GMOs. In May 2013 the US Supreme Court ruled unanimously [JURIST report] in Bowman v. Monsanto [SCOTUSblog backgrounder] that a farmer who buys patented seeds may not reproduce them through planting and harvesting without the patent holder’s permission, even though the seeds are altered to self-replicate. In March 2011 the European Court of Justice declared [JURIST report] that a ban on cultivating GMO crops is illegal after France attempted to prohibit the production of a strain of genetically modified maize developed by Monsanto in 2008. In December 2010 a US federal judge ordered the destruction [JURIST report] of a crop of genetically engineered sugar beets due to its potential harmful effect on surrounding flora.