Luxembourg, 26/04/2005 (Agence Europe) - Member States and the European Commission have decided to learn some lessons from the Bt10 affair in which genetically modified US maize has been imported into the EU although its had not been given market authorisation. During Tuesday's Agriculture Council in Luxembourg, ministers thanked the Commission for its rapid response (the procedure did in fact last more than a month: Editor's note). The Commission is committed to strengthening current Community measures in the event of further contamination being detected (EUROPE 8929 and 8935).
Addressing the press, the president of the Agriculture Council, Fernand Boden declared that his counterparts had congratulated the Commission for having “swiftly” taken the necessary measures to get the US authorities to certify that their exports to the EU did not contain Bt10 maize, the non-authorised genetically modified maize that has been commercialised by error in the USA in recent years. The Council also called for the Commission to “carry out a profound reflection” about ways for preventing such a situation occurring in the future.
Markos Kyprianou, the Commissioner for health and consumer protection noted that the Commission had acted “rapidly” with the help of Member States as soon as it was informed about the presence on EU territory of a non-authorised maize. He also pointed to the decision calling for “non Bt10” certification to be established by an accredited laboratory (the international GeneScan laboratory) and explained that the obligatory certificate was currently limited to two products used in animal feed (maize gluten and brewing dregs) but that these measures could be extended depending on the results from the Bt10 detection tests which were at last available.
During the Council, Germany, supported by most Member States including Austria, Sweden, Denmark, France, Italy, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia, called on the Commission to set up a data base in Europe containing information on GMOs throughout the world (including those which have still not been given market authorisation). In reply to this request, Mr Kyprianou indicated that the Common Research Centre (CRC) was “now working on setting up” a data base of this nature. He also stated that it should help Member States carry out inspections for detecting imported products containing GMOs that have not been authorised. During his visit to the USA, Kyprianou justified the “balanced and proportionate measures” taken at a Community level. He affirmed that he was now able to say that his US counterparts recognised that the position of the EU was “well founded”. In the USA Kyprianou was also able to talk about the advantages of the Community ticketing and traceability system for GMOs. According to the Commissioner, “this is something the Americans should think about as well”. In questions by the press Kyprianou said that trade between the EU and US had not suffered too much upset, “because we have a detection method in place since yesterday…this means that US products containing Bt10 cannot enter the European market”.