EU authorizes GMO maize type by legal rubberstamp

The European Union authorized imports of a genetically modified (GMO) maize on Monday, the third GMO product to win approval since the EU ended its unofficial biotech ban last year, officials said.

The maize, known as MON 863, is engineered by U.S. biotech giant Monsanto to resist the corn rootworm insect.

In theory, the maize may now be sold across EU territory for processing into animal feed - not for growing - but will have to receive a second EU approval for use in food before shipments can start. This might take another month, officials said.

“This authorization has been granted to Monsanto for 10 years,” the European Commission said in a statement. “When put on the market, it will need to be clearly labeled as containing genetically modified maize,” it said.

Even though the EU has now lifted its six-year unofficial moratorium on approving new GMO products, national governments have consistently clashed over biotech policy.

The EU’s member states have ended meetings in deadlock 14 times in a row on whether to approve new GMO products, usually for use in industrial processing or as animal feed. The last time they actually agreed on a new GMO approval was in 1998.

The decision taken by the European Commission was permitted under a legal default procedure that kicks in after national governments are unable to agree among themselves.

The last chance that the 25-nation bloc had to reach a majority agreement was in late June at a meeting of EU environment ministers in Luxembourg.

GREEN OPPONENTS

Green groups were angry about the GMO approval, saying there were serious doubts about the maize’s safety. The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) gave MON 863 a clean bill of health in April 2004 and deemed it as safe as conventional maize.

“It is unacceptable that the European Commission pushes through this controversial application when there are questions on long-term safety,” said Helen Holder, GMO campaigner at environment lobby group Friends of the Earth Europe.

In particular, green groups cite a feeding study of MON 863 maize on rats, which they say showed significant differences regarding kidney structures and levels of white blood cells between rats fed on the GMO maize and those that were not.

The Commission says EFSA had already taken the rat study into account in an updated risk assessment of the maize late last year, seeing no reason to change its original view.

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