GM potato gets the green light from commission

A GENETICALLY modified potato, resistant to two antibiotics, has been approved for industrial use and animal feed after the European Commission said it was safe for people, animals and the environment.

The German chemical company, BASF, which produced the potato, called Amflora, welcoming the decision said it will be planted in Germany and the Czech Republic this spring and in Sweden and The Netherlands next year.

But Greenpeace and other anti-GM groups have criticised the decision as irresponsible and say it can spread resistance to important antibiotics and will increase the cost of keeping food GM-free.

The decision by the Commission comes more than 13 years after the first request by BASF to grow the crop in the EU and follows pressure from the company to approve it in time for this year’s growing season.

The potato has been modified so that it produces about a fifth more starch than normal starch potatoes, and will be used in the manufacture of paper, textiles and adhesives. The manufacturers claim the GM potato saves on energy, chemicals and water.

Health and Consumer Policy Commissioner, John Dalli, said his decision followed from the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) favourably assessing the potato.

However the World Health Organisation considers that the two antibiotics, kanamycin and neomycin used to treat TB among other diseases, were “highly important antimicrobials”.

EFSA said the risk of transferring the gene bacteria and so increasing the likelihood it would become resistant, was remote; that baceria in animal and human intestines is already resistant; and that the antibiotics have only minor therapeutic relevance in human medicine.

The decision, one of the first to be taken by the new college of commissioners, was condemned by Greenpeace. It’s agriculture policy director, Marco Contiero said the decision was shocking and accused commission president Jose Manuel Barroso of steam-rolling the decision through despite the unanswered safety issues.

He pointed out that under an EU law adopted in 2001, antibiotic resistant genes that could pose a threat to human health and to the environment were to be phased out by the end of 2004.

European organic farmers group, IFOAM, condemned the decision also saying it would make keeping food GM free more difficult. The commission has said that Amflora must be harvested before they seed and it was highly unlikely they would cross polinate with other varieties. But they do not have a way of ensuring such conditions are enforced.