LUXEMBOURG (Reuters) – European Union farm ministers failed to agree to approve six genetically modified corn varieties for import, despite warnings that inaction could lead to a shortage of animal feed.
Because of 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 soon, but the commission has not decided whether the approval will be granted before or after the European summer break.
Before the vote, EU health and consumer commissioner John Dalli told ministers that authorizations should be quickly approved to avoid a repeat of last year’s disruption to feed.
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That was caused by the EU’s zero-tolerance policy on unapproved GM material after shipments of animal feed from the United States were refused entry when 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.
One of the applications was to renew a previous EU approval for the insect-resistant Bt11 corn, developed by Swiss-based biotech company Syngenta, which expired in 2007.
“A positive endorsement would effectively have signalled to key trading partners that the EU regulatory system for GMOs is functioning properly and would have helped to defuse mounting trade tensions,” said Syngenta spokesperson Medard Schoenmaeckers.
“Syngenta is disappointed that once again, member states could not come to a decision.”
The other five covered new approvals for “stacked” corn varieties, developed by combining existing insect- and herbicide-resistant GM corn varieties together using conventional plant breeding techniques.
