May 11, 2007

 

Greenpeace: Further Dutch checks on US biotech corn not enough

 

 

Greenpeace said Thursday (May 10) that increased Dutch checks on ships importing unauthorised biotech corn from the US did not go far enough, and it repeated its demand for a ban on all US agricultural products that could contain genetically modified material.

 

The environmental group found genetically modified corn illegally entering the European Union during tests last month on a US shipment in the Dutch port of Rotterdam. The ship's captain voluntarily handed over the samples to Greenpeace, which only occasionally carries out random checks.

 

The EU, wary of public health and environmental concerns, allows only genetically modified food and animal feed that has been evaluated and authorised to be placed on the EU market.

 

The Dutch Food Safety Authority, the VWA, confirmed Wednesday that the corn Greenpeace found was Herculex RW, developed by Pioneer and Dow Agrosciences to be resistant to rootworm pests.

 

It recalled part of the cargo, and said it would check more US ships--increasing inspections to one in four, from one in 10.

 

But Greenpeace said this did not remove the possibility of other unauthorised imports entering the EU.

 

"Many more illegal genetically engineered shipments could be slipping into the EU, given the lack of systematic controls," Greenpeace campaigner Myrto Pispini said.

 

"The EU should suspend all imports of US maize and other agricultural products that are under suspicion of being contaminated by genetically engineered organisms until they can institute a proper system to protect consumers, farmers and the environment," she said.

 

The corn was imported into Europe to be processed into animal feed. Recalled corn will now be sent back to the US or burned in The Netherlands.

 

But the VWA said there was no need for the animal feed containing the genetically modified corn to be recalled, as there was no risk to animal or human health.

 

It also said the European Food Safety Authority had assessed this variety of corn and found it posed no health risk, and the VWA expected it to be approved for import into the EU in the long run.