EU Fails to End Moratorium on Genetically Modified Food

BRUSSELS, Belgium, December 9, 2003 (ENS) - European Commission ambitions to remove a de facto EU moratorium on the commercialization of genetically modified food products suffered an embarrassing setback on Monday when a committee of national experts failed to support an application concerning a sweetcorn called Bt-11.

The Bt-11 corn, made by Swiss agribusiness giant Syngenta, has been modified to produce its own insecticide and is also resistant to an herbicide. The corn would be imported as a canned food product, not for planting.

The vote was postponed last month as the Commission feared its recommendation to approve the application would not win the required qualified majority support to end the five year long moratorium.

In a statement issued after Monday's vote, however, the Commission said the results were "expected."

Six countries - Finland, Ireland, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden and the UK - voted in favour of the Commission's proposal. Another six - Austria, Denmark, France, Greece and Luxembourg, plus Portugal - voted against.

Syngenta Bt-11 sweet corn in the hands of a farmer (Photo courtesy Syngenta)

EU ministers will vote on the proposal within the next three months. Should they fail to reach a qualified majority either for or against permitting the Syngenta sweetcorn to be imported, the Commission will have the power to adopt the proposal unilaterally.

Environmental campaigners Friends of the Earth (FoE) Europe welcomed the vote as "a victory for public safety and common sense." The group said that the lack of scientific consensus over the safety of the genetically modified Bt-11 sweetcorn proved that the European Commission was wrong to try to press ahead with lifting the moratorium.

A new approval process and labeling regime for genetically modified foods will take effect in April 2004. It enforces strict labeling and traceability of the food and facilitates recalls should anything go wrong.

Green groups have insisted that authorization of products under the old approval process should not go ahead. But the Commission said this is of no consequence, as any new product would be subject to the new rules in any case.

The European Commission has been striving to persuade the United States that the de facto moratorium will soon be lifted. An official challenge against the European Union under World Trade Organization rules was launched by the United States, Canada and Argentina last August.

But Friends of the Earth says the delay is a good thing for the European Commission. Geert Ritsema said, "The European Commission now has the opportunity to re-think its position. The public doesn't want to eat GM food and question marks remain over its safety."

Ritsema urged the EU executive to "put the wellbeing of European citizens and their environment before the business interests of the U.S. government and the biotech industry."

{Published in cooperation with ENDS Environment Daily, Europe's choice for environmental news. Environmental Data Services Ltd, London. Email: envdaily@ends.co.uk}