Bridges Weekly Trade News Digest • Volume 14 • Number 29 • 4th August 2010

European Commission OKs 6 Strains of GM Maize for Food and Feed

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The European Commission (EC) has approved six new varieties of genetically modified (GM) maize for use as food and feed in the EU, but not for cultivation. The authorisations are valid for ten years.

Farmers are allowed to grow only two strains of GM crops in the EU: Monsanto’s MON 810 strain of maize, which was authorised in 1998, and a GM starch potato, known as the “Amflora” potato, which was approved for cultivation and industrial processing in March of this year.

However, the European Commission has approved a number of GM crops for feed or food uses, including one strain of sugar beet, three of soybean, three of oilseed-rape, six cotton varieties and 17 strains of maize.

The approval of the six new maize varieties is the result of a decision taken by the Commission after member states failed to return majority decisions either for or against the approval. Each of the six GM maize varieties in question has received a positive safety assessment from the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA).

EU member states are deeply divided over GM products. Critics of GM goods emphasise that the long-term impact of genetic modification for human and environmental health is unknown.

Member states Austria, Bulgaria, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland and Luxembourg have banned the cultivation of GM seeds, while the Czech Republic, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom are open to allowing their farmers to grow the altered crops.

In a recent proposal, the Commission suggested that each of the bloc’s member states should be allowed to decide for themselves whether to allow the cultivation of GM crops within their borders. Before states could ban or approve them, however, any strains would need to undergo a safety assessment by European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) and receive EU approval.

Of the approvals announced this week, one renewed a previous decision on Syngenta’s insect-resistant Bt11 maize that expired in 2007, while the other five were for stacked maize varieties, which combine insect and herbicide resistance. One of those strains is from Sygenta, two were jointly developed by DuPont and Dow AgroSciences, and two are from Monsanto.

Exporters of GM crops outside the EU are likely to increase their pressure on the EU to open its markets to imports of the altered crops. The EU has a zero-tolerance policy on unapproved GM material in imports. Just last year, Europe’s supply chains of animal feed were disrupted when GM-tainted shipments of feed from the US were turned back at the EU border.

The US has long been critical of the EU’s anti-GM position, arguing that it is not in line with Europe’s commitments at the World Trade Organization.

This week the American Farm Bureau Federation, the largest and strongest farmers’ association in the United States, urged the administration of US President Barack Obama to impose sanctions on the EU, saying that the 27-nation bloc has not complied with a 2006 WTO ruling against its “de facto moratorium” on approving new varieties of GM crops for cultivation.

ICTSD reporting; “EC approves six GM corn varieties for food and feed,” FOODnavigator.com, 30 July 2010; “Commission proposes letting member states decide on GM cultivation,” FoodQualitynews.com, 15 July 2010; “EU Commission authorizes six GM maize for food and feed use,” Aquafeed.com, 2 August 2010; “EU’s new approach to the cultivation of GMOs- guide,” eubusiness.com, 13 July 2010.