Products containing or produced from genetically modified maize varieties by Syngenta France SAS will be authorised in the European Union for human and animal consumption, the European Commission decided on Friday 16 September.
The varieties of maize are Bt11 × MIR162 × MIR604, Bt11 × MIR162 × GA21, for use in various combinations.
These are the GMOs on which member state representatives, in both the relevant technical committee and the committee of appeal, failed to find a qualified majority in favour of either approval or rejection of the Commission proposals. The Commission was then empowered to take the decision itself. This it has now done, authorising these GM products in the EU.
The GMOs, which are resistant to lepidoptera and to some coleoptera, are also tolerant to glufosinate ammonium herbicides and glyphosate-based herbicides, for which reason the European Parliament voted against authorisation on 8 June, though this decision was not binding (see EUROPE 11568 and 11557).
Under Regulation 1829/2003/EC on genetically modified food and feed, “authorisation may be granted either to a GMO to be used as a source material for production of food or feed and products for food and/or feed use which contain, consist of or are produced from it, or to foods or feed produced from a GMO”.
In a press release, the Commission points out that these varieties of hybrid transgenic maize had received a favourable scientific assessment by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) in December 2015.
The authorisation decision is valid for 10 years, and “any products produced from these GMOs will be subject to the EU's strict labelling and traceability rules”, the Commission states.
Under the said regulation, any food or feed containing, consisting of, or produced from GMOs must be clearly labelled as such, irrespective of whether the final product contains the DNA or protein resulting from the genetic modification. However, accidental GMO traces of less than 1% of the final product will continue to be exempted from labelling requirements.
As with the decision on extending the licence for glyphosate (see EUROPE 11583), this decision, which has been pending for months, was adopted on the same day as an important European summit was taking place. (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)