EU Authorises GMO Rapeseed by Legal Rubberstamp
Date: 27-Mar-07
Country: BELGIUM
Bayer's application relates to industrial processing, which includes use in animal feed, for rapeseed types Ms8, Rf3 and hybrids of these two -- all engineered to resist the glufosinate-ammonium herbicide. It does not involve cultivation.
The EU decision is a rubberstamp procedure applied by the European Commission -- the EU's executive arm. It is permitted under a legal default process that kicks in when ministers are unable to agree among themselves after a period of three months.
This was the case last September, when ministers failed to reach a consensus agreement under the weighted EU voting system. For many years, EU countries have not been able to secure the majority needed to vote through a new GMO approval.
Since the EU's six-year unofficial moratorium on approving new GMO products was lifted in 2004, the Commission has authorised a string of GMOs in this way, outraging green groups.
National governments have consistently clashed over biotech policy. They last agreed on a new GMO approval in 1998.
Green groups had complained about the impending authorisation, citing risks that GMO rapeseed might sprout up if its seeds were spilled during transit and then cross with related native, and non-GMO, rapeseed types.
European consumers are well known for their wariness towards GMO foods but the biotech industry insists its products are safe and no different to conventional foods. Europe's hostility to GMO foods is unfounded, it says.
