Europe to end six-year GM moratorium

The European Union’s head office said today it would approve a variety of genetically modified corn for human consumption next week, ending a six-year biotech moratorium that the United States has challenged at the World Trade Organisation.

But whether the decision would open the market for biotech companies was less clear.

Under new EU rules that took effect last month, “any import of canned vegetables will have to show clearly on the label in the list of ingredients that the corn has been harvested from a genetically modified plant,” European Commission spokesman Reijo Kemppinen said.

That would likely be a kiss-of-death for any company that tried to sell it in Europe, where genetically modified foods are widely mistrusted and avoided. Many supermarket chains require suppliers to guarantee their products are biotech-free.

The industry trade group EuropaBio welcomed the announcement as a “step forward”, although a spokesman conceded the corn was unlikely to hit store shelves soon.

“I would hope there’s an opportunity to be able to purchase it,” said Simon Barber, director of EuropaBio’s plant biotechnology unit.

Opposition remains fierce despite the enactment last year of a new approval process and the labelling requirements, considered to be the most stringent in the world.

“If the commission decides to force this down our throats then they can only expect the public’s confidence in (genetically modified) foods to sink even further,” said Adrian Bebb, anti-biotech campaigner at Friends of the Earth Europe.

The commission announced its intention to lift the ban last month after EU governments failed to agree on the first application submitted under the new rules: Swiss-based Syngenta’s insect-resistant Bt11 sweet corn.

Kemppinen said the commission would approve the sale for human consumption - canned or fresh – at its meeting on Wednesday, under provisions that authorise the EU executive to decide if member governments cannot.

Cultivation by farmers would still be forbidden, although an application is pending.

The decision will be valid in all 25 EU countries for 10 years, he said.

The EU has been under pressure from the Bush administration and other major agricultural exporters to lift the ban, which they charge is unscientific and thus illegal under WTO rules.

Bt11 was considered an easy test for the EU, since it had been approved for other uses – animal feed and for human consumption of derivatives such as corn oil and syrup – before the EU halted its approval process in 1998.

But last month, France, Portugal, Austria, Luxembourg, Greece and Denmark continued to oppose the application. Spain, Belgium and Germany abstained, while Italy, Britain, the Netherlands, Ireland, Sweden and Finland voted to approve it.

The executive commission has long urged an end to the moratorium, insisting the new traceability and labelling rules provide adequate protection for consumers.