On Thursday 14 December, in the name of protecting health and the environment, the European Parliament opposed the European Commission’s plans to authorise glufosinate-tolerant transgenic maize and oilseed rape varieties for food use in the EU.
By 380 votes to 156, with 16 abstentions, they objected to the granting of a market authorisation in the EU for the hybrid maize Bt11 × MIR162 × MIR604 × MON 89034 × 5307 × GA21 and 30 sub-combinations manufactured by Syngenta (Switzerland), as recommended by the Environment Committee (see EUROPE 13305/34).
An objection to the renewal of authorisation for the glufosinate-resistant hybrid oilseed rape Ms8,Rf3 and Ms8 × Rf3 was also adopted by 382 votes to 153, with 11 abstentions. The application was made on behalf of BASF Agricultural Solutions Seed US LLC.
In both cases, the objections concern both GMOs and products containing them.
The Commission based its authorisation proposals on favourable opinions from the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA). The Member States had failed to achieve the qualified majority required to approve or reject them.
Parliament cites shortcomings in EFSA’s risk assessment of these GMOs and an undemocratic procedure.
Since an objection is not legally binding, the European Commission will go ahead with the authorisations. See the text adopted for maize: https://aeur.eu/f/a5i ; And the one on rapeseed: https://aeur.eu/f/a5j (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)