Brussels, 18/11/2015 (Agence Europe) - Member state experts on the Standing Committee on Plants, Animals, Food and Feed were unable, on Wednesday 18 November, to come to agreement on whether or not import authorisation for three genetically modified varieties of soybeans should be granted. The genetic modification makes them resistant to glyphosate, a total herbicide which EFSA has just declared is probably not carcinogenic, even though the WHO and the IARC (International Agency for Research on Cancer) came to different conclusions (see EUROPE 11429). Where there is no qualified majority either for or against, the standing committee is deemed not to have an opinion. The appeals committee will, therefore, decide in January.
NGOs sound health warning. On the eve of the vote, NGOs GeneWatch UK and Testbiotech urged that, for reasons of public health, the three GMOs should not be approved. They highlight that the EFSA conclusion explicitly excludes applications of glyphosate on genetically engineered soybeans or the application of commercial mixtures of glyphosate such as Roundup that contain various additives.
“As EFSA states in its recent conclusion on the risk assessment of glyphosate, residue trials on glyphosate tolerant GM crops were not provided. That is why the risk assessment of EFSA in regard to health effects 'is limited to conventional crops only'. Further, EFSA states that additives used in many commercial formulations and showing a higher toxicity than glyphosate also have to be taken into account. But as EFSA further states, data on the actual load of residues from these additives are completely missing”, said Helen Wallace of GeneWatch UK, going on to state: “Now the precautionary principle has to be applied”.
In an open letter to the European Commission, Testbiotech and GeneWatch UK warn that it is likely that the genetically modified soybeans are likely to be sprayed with various formulations used in countries such as Argentina, Brazil and the US, but which have never been approved in the EU. The two organisations warn that the herbicides isoxaflutole and dicamba that can be applied in combination with glyphosate, leave residues in the crops - and both are known to have an impact on human health. “The residues resulting from the usage of isoxaflutole are considered to be probably carcinogenic. The combinatorial health effects caused by the mixture of residues might be much more severe than can be expected from the assessment of the single components. But those combinatorial effects were not assessed by EFSA”, pointed out Christoph Then of Testbiotech. (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)