June 30, 2010

EU farm ministers failed to agree on Tuesday (Jun 29) to approve six genetically modified (GM) corn varieties for import to the bloc, despite a warning that inaction could lead to a shortage of animal feed.

Following the deadlock, the import applications for use in food and feed can now be approved unilaterally by the bloc's executive, the European Commission.

In principle that could happen within a few weeks, but the Commission has not yet decided whether the approval will be granted before or after the European summer break, a spokesman for the EU executive said.

Before the vote, EU Health and Consumer Commissioner John Dalli told ministers that authorisations should be approved as a priority to avoid any repeat of last year's disruption to feed imports.

That was caused by the EU's zero-tolerance policy on unapproved GM material in imports - shipments of animal feed from the US were refused entry to the bloc after minute traces of unapproved GM material were discovered in the cargo.

The Commission has said it will propose a small tolerance margin for unapproved GM in imports later this year to resolve the issue, but until then the only solution is for the EU to approve varieties individually for import.