October 21, 2009

EU farm ministers refused to approve plans to allow the import of GM corn from US growers, which could open the possibility of rubberstamp approvals of GM corn varieties.

The meeting of the EU agriculture ministers in Luxembourg was dominated by crisis in the dairy sector. Next to that the nations were unable to agree on proposals to allow new GM corn into the EU.

Agriculture Commissioner Mariann Fischer Boel sought the go-ahead for two strains of corn produced by Monsanto and another by Pioneer to be cleared for import by European firms.

EU law allows for rubberstamp GMO authorisations when ministers cannot agree after a certain time. Since 2004, the European Commission has approved a string of GM products, nearly all corn.

This means that the decision would ultimately be left up to the commission itself, because if no agreement can be reached by the ministers, Brussels will have free rein to choose.

Fischer Boel argued that a shortage of soy for animal feedstuffs and over-reliance on US exporters meant the EU had to get over old fears about new products.

She criticised regulations that meant one large shipment of soy was turned back from EU borders this summer because traces of unauthorised GM corn were harmless.

Only a handful of GM crops have been approved for cultivation in the EU, but of them only Monsanto's MON810 corn, approved in 1998, is so far being grown.

Six European countries -- Austria, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary and Luxembourg -- had adopted safeguard clauses to ban its cultivation on their territory.