14/10/2015 (Agence Europe) - Syngenta withdraws applications for cultivation authorisation for two maizes. On Monday 12 October, the European Commission announced that agrochemical company Syngenta had withdrawn applications for authorisation to cultivate two out of four of its genetically modified (GM) maizes. Syngenta's application withdrawal is the result of widespread rejection of GM crop cultivation by two thirds of EU governments - which had used their opt-outs to ban GMO cultivation on their territory. The opt-outs can be used to ban the cultivation of GM crops that have already been authorised or that are awaiting authorisation (see EUROPE 11403). The two maizes concerned by Syngenta's application withdrawal are MIR 604, which produces a pesticide, and Bt11xMIR604xGA21, which produces a pesticide and is resistant to herbicides. “This is good news for agricultural innovation in Europe”, says Marco Contiero, Greenpeace EU agriculture policy director, who accuses multinationals like Syngenta of “aggressively promoting GM crops and pesticides because they want to control the food chain”. (AN)