Modified crops gained 9m hectares in 2005
GM crops are being grown for animals in Spain, Germany, the Czech Republic, France and Portugal. GM material is already widely accepted for animal feeding in Europe, in contrast to consumer resistance to GM foods.
But anti-GM consumers in the EU are protected by laws requiring any food with more than 0.9% GM material to be labelled as such.
Meanwhile, the EU has ordered Greece to lift its ban on genetically modified (GMO) maize seeds for animal feeding. Last year, an EU court prohibited the region of Upper Austria from banning GMO crops.
The Commission has asked member states on more than 10 occasions to vote on authorising a GMO food or feed product, but in the large majority of cases there was no agreement.
Luxembourg, Greece and Austria consistently vote against, while the UK, Finland and the Netherlands almost always vote in favour.
Without a qualified majority for or against, it has been left to the European Commission to approve four GMOs for animal feed in the EU since last October.
