Brussels, 28/09/2012 (Agence Europe) - On Thursday 27 September, the member states of the EU failed to agree on the sales of a genetically-modified maize for human and animal consumption (and for imports and processing, but not for cultivation), leaving it to the European Commission to decide and, most likely, authorise the GMO.
In a vote of the Appeal Committee, which is made up of experts, all of the member states kept their positions unchanged from the first examination of the application, at the Standing Committee meeting of 10 September, and there was no majority for or against the sales of the MIR 162 maize of the Syngenta group. The row over the authorisation protocols for GMOs launched after the publication of the Séralini study into the consequences on the health of rats of being fed with GM maize did not change any of the positions, a European source commented.
In total, 13 states voted in favour of the authorisation of the sales of MIR 162 in the EU, including the United Kingdom, Spain and the Netherlands. Ten others, including Poland and Austria, voted against. And four others - Germany, France, Italy and Bulgaria - abstained. During the vote, France is reported to have called on the Commission to “draw all the consequences from the current analysis” of NK 603, the maize studied in Professor Séralini's report.
The European Commission will now almost certainly take position “in the next few weeks” in favour of the authorisation, as the European Food Safety Authority is of the opinion that MIR 162 presents no risks to health. (LC/transl.fl)