Brussels, 13/01/2006 (Agence Europe) - On Friday, the European Commission decided to authorise the marketing of three new varieties of genetically modified maize by the American food giant, Monsanto. GA21, which is resistant to Roundup-Ready herbicide, and MON 863, genetically modified to resist certain insects, were both authorised under Regulation 258/97 known as the Novel Food/Novel Feed regulation, and are intended for both food and feed. The hybrid maize, MON 863xMON 810 (which produces two insecticide toxins), was authorised under Directive 2001/18/EC (a directive relating to the voluntary dissemination of GMOs into the environment) to be legally imported into the EU and processed, especially for animal feed. None of the three GMOs are authorised as crops. For these three genetically modified maize varieties, the EU Council had previously failed to reach a qualified majority for either the approval or the rejection of the Commission's proposal of authorisation. The Commission was therefore empowered to take its own decision in application of comitology rules. In a press release, the Commission stresses that these GMOs will be authorised for an initial ten-year duration, duly labelled in order to specify that the maize concerned or ingredients containing the maize are genetically modified - in compliance with GMO traceability and labelling rules in force in the EU. The Commission also considers that the GMOs will make it possible to improve the management of weeds and crop production.
Greenpeace is of quite another opinion. In a press release, the NGO on defence of the environment states it is particularly concerned by the safety of MON 863 maize that has already caused health problems among rats (EUROPE 8790), and deplores the failings of the toxicology study that Monsanto had classified as confidential before a German tribunal brought it to public notice in June 2005. Greenpeace expresses surprise that neither the Commission nor the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) had ever answered the detailed criticism expressed by independent scientists concerning risk assessment for this product. On the subject of the hybrid maize, MON 863x810, the NGO recalls that, since September 2005, it has been requesting Commission access to Monsanto studies and that, to date, these studies are, like the others, classified as confidential information, preventing any independent assessment of the safety of the GMO and of the quality of the risk assessment carried out by the EFSA.