April 19, 2007

EU to discuss approval of GM corn and beet applications
 

Biotech experts belonging to the European Union's 25 national governments will discuss and vote three applications to approve new genetically modified (GMO) corn hybrids and sugar beet.

According to an EU official, should the governments remain unresolved at the issue, the approval will be brought to the European Commission, the EU's executive arm.

Since the EU lifted its six-year suspension on GMO products in 2004, the Commission has authorised more GMO crops despite European's apprehension on the safety of GMO foods.

On the other hand, biotech companies have insisted their products are safe and are no different from conventional foods.

The first corn hybrid for approval was made by US biotech giant Monsanto and is known as MON810/NK603 which is supposedly designed to resist certain insects and also glyphosate, the active ingredient in Monsanto's Roundup herbicide. The application by Monsanto relates to food and animal feed produced from the modified plants or containing ingredients derived from those plants.

The second GMO corn, a hybrid known as 1507/NK603, has been developed to resist certain field pests like the European corn borer as well as herbicides glufosinate and glyphosate. The corn is jointly made by Pioneer Hi-Bred International, a subsidiary of DuPont Co., and Dow AgroSciences unit Mycogen Seeds. Their application is for import and processing, for all food and feed uses, and all food, feed and processed products derived from the GMO corn plants.

The GMO sugar beet, called H7-1, was developed jointly by Monsanto and German plant breeding company KWS SAAT AG to resist glyphosate-containing herbicides. The application relates to food and animal feed produced from the beet, for example sugar, syrup, dried pulp and molasses.