August 10, 2005

EU agrees to GM corn import for animal feed use

The EC authorized on Aug 10 the import and marketing of a GM corn for animal feed use in the EU. The EC authorization, valid for the next ten years, came amidst opposition from 14 EU member states. The corn is created by Monsanto to be resistant to corn rootworm.

The MON 863 corn is now considered as safe as any conventional corn and is deemed not to pose any environmental or health risk, after a pre-market risk assessment conducted by the European Food Safety Authority.

Though the corn can now be imported into the EU for animal feed use, it still could not be cultivated or used as food in the EU. The MON 863 will also now be under strict labelling and traceability rules.

For example, the corn needs to be clearly labelled as GM during marketing. Post-marketing monitoring will be done by assigning a unique identifier to the corn to assist in traceability.

MON 863 is the second GM product to be approved by the EC, which has one of the world's strictest regimes for gene-altered crops.