Brussels, 10/02/2011 (Agence Europe) - There is a definite pattern forming. In Brussels on Wednesday 10 February, the representatives of the member states of the EU failed to take position for or against the European Commission's proposals to authorise the marketing in the EU of five GM products - four varieties of maize and one of cotton - for import and processing, and for use in human and animal food, but not to be grown as a crop.
The member states' experts, meeting in the Standing Committee on the Food Chain and Animal Health of the EU failed to achieve the required qualified majority to be able to settle the matter one way or the other.
Under the procedure in force, therefore, the Commission will return these dossiers to the Council of the EU, which will have three months to decide, also by qualified majority. If, in turn, the Council fails to come to a decision, the Commission will be authorised to decide for itself, and will, therefore, as it always has done in such cases, approve the said GMOs.
On the table are three varieties of hybrid maize obtained by the conventional crossing of several lines of GM maize belonging to Syngenta Seeds S.A.S (MIR604xGA21, which is resistant to corn rootworm and tolerant of glyphosate, bt11XxMIR604 and bt11xMIR604xGA21) and a hybrid cotton from Dow Agrosciences Europe (281-24-236x3006-210-23).
All of these products, of which the European Commission has been notified under EC regulation 1829/2003 on genetically modified food and animal feed, have received a favourable scientific opinion from the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA). EFSA ruled that none of these hybrid GMOs contained any risk to human or animal health or to the environment. (A.N./transl.fl)