June 26, 2007

 

EU deadlocked on GMO corn approval

 

 

The EU's approval of genetically modified corn imports was botched Monday, sending instead the application to agriculture ministers for further debate, the European Commission said.

 

In a statement, the Commission said, the council of EU ministers will discuss the position and if no decision has been agreed within three months, the proposal will be sent back to the Commission for the final adoption.

 

The contested trait, known commercially as Herculex RW and also by the code number 59122, is jointly made by Pioneer Hi-Bred International, a subsidiary of DuPont Co.  and Dow AgroSciences unit Mycogen Seeds.

 

Herculex RW is said to protect against larval stages of corn rootworm, which eats through plant roots and so reduces yield and nutrients. It also resists the active herbicide ingredient glusofinate ammonium. 

 

The GM corn is being endorsed to in EU to be used in food, animal feed and industrial processing.

 

Should EU minister fail to reach a vote, the Commission usually issues its own approval under a legal default process.

 

France, Ireland and Italy abstained in the vote, officials said but there were no clear indications whether these countries are in favour of the approval.

 

Industry sources have voiced frustration on EU's delay in authorising a GMO product that has been approved in several other countries -- notably the United States, a major supplier of corn-based feed products to EU markets.

 

Analysis of recent GMO voting patterns shows that the consistent blocking minority of EU governments may be eroding as some smaller countries are opting to abstain than reject an application outright -- so weakening the anti-GMO camp.

 

Some countries, like Britain, Finland and the Netherlands, almost always vote in favour of approving new GMOs. They are offset by a group of anti-GMO states like Austria, Greece and Luxembourg, which vote against and force a stalemate.

 

European consumers are known to shun biotech foods and GM crops on safety concerns. In April, Dutch authorities detected corn gluten feed derived from Herculex RW that was delivered to several animal feed companies in the Netherlands, and partially consumed.

 

Environmentalists such as the Friends of the Earth group were satisfied with the Monday's outcome as they stressed "Herculex corn has been the centre of contamination scandals".

 

"The sudden and rapid move to try and authorise Herculex corn suggests that the European Commission is more concerned with 'neutralising' a potential legal problem of illegal contamination rather than dealing with contamination by unauthorised GMOs," it said in a statement.