EU lifts GMO import ban for maize
May 19, 2004
BRUSSELS (Reuters) – The European Union ended its controversial ban Wednesday on new genetically modified foods, allowing imports of a tinned maize.
The move does not touch on the more contentious issue of new GMO crops.
In the EU’s first approval in more than five years, its executive arm authorized imports of a maize known as Bt-11,
marketed by Swiss agrochemicals giant Syngenta, for sale as tinned sweetcorn in supermarkets across the bloc.
“This is an important day for consumer choice in Europe. The so-called de facto moratorium is ended,” EU Health and Consumer Protection Commissioner David Byrne told a news conference.
“Thirty-four GMOs are on the market at the moment and this will be the 35th,” he said. Bt-11 maize imports are now authorized in the EU for a period of 10 years.
Although the EU decision confounds the hopes of GMO-sceptic states such as Austria and Denmark, it should delight some of the EU’s top trading partners.
The United States, which has challenged the bloc’s ban at the World Trade Organization, welcomed the EU’s biotech breakthrough but said the WTO challenge was still on track since the approval of one new GMO was not enough to address U.S. concerns.
“The approval of this Bt-11 sweetcorn is not an end of the biotech moratorium, in our view,” said Ed Kemp, spokesman at the U.S. mission to the EU in Brussels. “The approval of a single product does not affect our WTO challenge,” he said.
The WTO set up a panel in March to deal with the complaint, filed by the United States, along with Canada and Argentina. A first hearing is expected in June and final report in October.
Syngenta sees battles ahead
The real battle for EU biotech policy, diplomats say, is when the bloc gives a green light to plant live GMO crops: the acid test of whether the moratorium is really over.
Although the Commission says each application will be treated case-by-case, Byrne said the EU’s approvals process would get a boost from the political breakthrough over Bt-11.
Syngenta hailed the EU move, saying the company had always insisted that its product was safe.
“It has no financial impact. It is a step in the right direction but in the end the consumer will decide. That will take some time,” a Syngenta spokesman said. “It is to be expected as it was based on all the right science.”
The European Commission’s decision follows months of deadlock between member states, and it flies in the face of a market where consumers are largely hostile to biotech foods with opposition rated at more than 70 percent.
Supermarkets and food manufacturers have responded to this sentiment and still tend to avoid stocking produce that contains GMOs.
Before the Bt-11 approval, the EU’s last authorization for any GMO product was in October 1998 for a type of carnation. The last food product, a maize type, was approved in April 1998
