EU Ducks Decision on Growing GMO Potato
Date: 05-Dec-06
Country: BELGIUM
Author: Jeremy Smith
Under the EU's complex weighted voting system, the experts' failure to reach a consensus either to approve or reject the application means the matter must be passed to EU ministers.
If the ministers fail to agree after three months, the European Commission, the EU's executive arm, gains the legal power to issue an approval: a method used in the EU several times since May 2004 to approve new GMO products for import.
That would make the potato, known as Amylogene, the first GMO product for growing to gain EU approval since 1998. Shortly after that date, the bloc started its de facto moratorium on new biotech authorisations that ended in 2004.
The potato, engineered by German chemicals group BASF to yield high amounts of starch, would be used only for industrial processing to make items such as paper. It is not designed to be consumed by humans or used in animal feed. The experts' debate was keenly watched for signs that the EU might have changed tack on biotech approvals after the World Trade Organisation ruled this year that the bloc was illegally blocking GMO food imports. The EU will not appeal.
The European Union has long been split on GMO policy and the EU's 25 countries consistently clash over whether to approve new varieties for import -- but without reaching a conclusion.
In Europe, consumers are well known for their scepticism, if not hostility, to GMO crops, often dubbed as "Frankenstein foods". But the international biotech industry says its products are perfectly safe and no different to conventional foods.
FIELD TRIALS
Just last week, Britain gave the go-ahead to research trials for another GMO potato -- also made by BASF, but for resisting potato blight. It will not be used for food or feed.
The EU has different rules to regulate GMO field trials, while BASF's Amylogene application is for commercial growing.
"As it has been modified for increased starch content, it (BASF's Amylogene) does not produce a toxin to insect pests or non-target organisms," the Commission said. "Also, the plant will not produce pollen or seeds for dissemination."
BASF has filed a separate application for EU approval of its GMO potato -- no date is yet set for discussions -- whereby the waste from processing would be used to make animal feed.
Green groups were outraged by the idea of the EU authorising the cultivation of more GMO crops. At present, only a handful may be grown, with approvals dating to 1998 and earlier.
"Allowing genetically modified potatoes to be grown in Europe would be a disaster," Helen Holder at Friends of the Earth Europe said in a statement.
"These potatoes are not intended for human consumption, but the biotech industry itself admits that they would end up in the food chain. The public would end up eating them if they liked it or not," she said.
