28/03/2019 (Agence Europe) – For reasons of public health and environmental protection, the European Parliament vetoed on Wednesday 27 March the authorisation to place GMOs intended for human or animal consumption on the market in the EU. By 407 votes to 185 with 24 abstentions, the Parliament objected to hybrid maize 1507 x NK603 (DAS-Ø15Ø7-1 x MON-ØØ6Ø3-6), and by 373 votes to 206 against and 31 abstentions, for genetically modified soy MON 87751 (MON-87751-7). These objections concern GMOs and products containing them. In the absence of the required qualified majority, the Member States' experts could not approve or reject the Commission's proposals based on a favourable opinion from EFSA. The Commission is therefore empowered to decide on its own initiative. It will therefore authorise these GMOs, as it usually does, since a European Parliament objection is not binding. (AN)