July 21, 2015

GM crops declared safe for EU market

The GMO Panel of the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) has stamped its approval on two genetically-modified (GM) crops for import into the EU.

Mon 87708 × Mon 89788, a GM soybean, and NK603 × T25, a GM corn, are now declared safe and should pose no adverse effects against human health and the environment. The EFSA drew its conclusion after studying the agronomic and phenotypic characteristics of GM soybean and corn varieties, in addition to the compositional data of the two crops.

Mon 87708, Mon 89788, NK603 and T25 had previously been scrutinised as single organisms and did not reveal any potential of causing harm.

Despite the EFSA's thumbs up for the GM crops, an approval based on qualified majority by EU member states is still required.

Countries within the bloc are currently mulling over a European Commission proposal that could grant members the independent authority to control or ban the use of permitted GMOs in their own territories.