EU experts fail to agree on Greece GMO seed ban

By Jeremy Smith

BRUSSELS (Reuters) – EU food safety experts on Wednesday
failed to agree on Greece’s ban on planting genetically
modified (GMO) maize seeds, leaving the decision to be made by
ministers later in the year, a European Commission official
said.

In September, the EU authorized 17 different seed strains
of maize made by U.S. biotech giant Monsanto from an parent
crop for planting and sale across EU territory, flying in the
face of widespread consumer resistance to GMO crops and foods.

The parent maize, known as MON 810 and engineered to resist
certain insect pests, won approval for growing just before the
EU began its biotech ban in 1998 that lasted nearly six years.

Before this, these seeds only had national authorizations
issued by France and Spain. But EU law provides for countries
to decide whether to allow such seeds on national territory –
although a ban must be approved by EU member states to be
legal.

Greece and Poland both used this provision in early 2005.

“On Greece, there was a formal vote which was inconclusive
and so the Commission proposal will be examined by the Council
(EU ministers) in the autumn,” the official told Reuters.

The experts were also due to discuss a similar ban imposed
by Poland but postponed a vote since Warsaw had amended its ban
to include some non-GMO varieties. The experts would discuss
this as two separate dossiers in the autumn, the official said.

“Poland has presented a new request also covering non-GMO
varieties. As there is no time limit for this request, the
committee agreed to postpone the discussion on both requests
until after the summer,” he said. “There was no decision
today.”

In January, Hungary imposed a similar ban on the 17
Monsanto maize seeds but used a different EU law as its legal
basis, meaning that its ban must first be assessed by the
European Food Safety Authority, whose opinion is due shortly.
EU ministers are likely to debate the Hungarian GMO seed ban in
the autumn.

Last month, EU environment ministers delivered a stinging
rebuff to the Commission when they slapped down draft orders
that required five countries to lift national bans on various
GMO crops and foods imposed between 1997 and 2000.