Despite last year's lifting of an effective biotech moratorium by a legal default procedure, EU countries have not managed to agree by themselves on a GMO approval since 1998.

Both requests will now be considered by EU ministers who have three months to decide whether to permit imports or not.

The first maize, known by its code number 1507, is jointly made by Pioneer Hi-Bred International, a subsidiary of DuPont Co., and Dow AgroSciences unit Mycogen Seeds. The application was for import and processing for animal feed use.

EU sources said environment experts from Belgium, Britain, Estonia, Finland, France, Sweden, the Czech Republic and the Netherlands voted in favour of the insect-resistant maize.

Austria, Cyprus, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg and Poland were against. The rest abstained.

"1507 maize has successfully completed the rigorous safety assessment required by EU legislation and brings real benefits to the environment, consumers and the agricultural chain," said Mike Hall, European Communications Manager at Pioneer Hi-Bred.

"It is heartening that so many member states voted to approve 1507 maize for import and animal feed use in the EU."

In Europe, consumers have been far more reluctant than in the US to accept GMO products, often dubbed as "Frankenstein foods", while manufacturers of GMO foods insist they are safe.

NO MAJORITY

This week's second GMO vote was for a maize manufactured by US biotech giant Monsanto and known as MON 863. The company had requested EU approval to import the maize for use as an ingredient in processed foods and derived food products.

"There was no qualified majority," an EU official told Reuters, referring to the EU's weighted voting system. "It (dossier) goes back to the European Commission and I expect it will be ready to go to the Council (of EU ministers) in June."

The voting breakdown for Monsanto's maize was different: Belgium, Britain, Germany, Finland, France, Ireland, Poland, Sweden, the Czech Republic and the Netherlands were in favour.

Austria, Greece, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta and Portugal were opposed; Denmark, Estonia, Hungary, Slovenia, Slovakia and Spain abstained. Cyprus was absent.

MON 863 maize is engineered to provide maize plants with protection against certain insects, particularly corn rootworm.

More controversially, Pioneer/Mycogen have also submitted a separate request for its 1507 maize to be grown on EU territory and a vote on this is now likely to be held in September. It will be very closely watched since this will be the EU's first attempt to approve a "live" GMO for planting since 1998.