EU agency gives all-clear for GMO maize planting

Europe's leading food safety agency gave a clean bill of health on Friday for the planting of a genetically modified (GMO) maize, only the first step towards possible EU approval for growing. While the EU has now lifted its 6-year ban on allowing imports of new GMOs, there have no approvals since 1998 on any new gene-spliced crop that could be planted in Europe's fields - and the EU's 25 governments are deeply divided on the issue.
A handful of GMO crops, mainly maize types, were authorised for growing across the EU shortly before the moratorium began in 1998. No new crop has been allowed for planting since then.
Spain is the only EU state to grow gene-altered crops on a commercial scale, although field trials exist elsewhere.
The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) is key to the biotech debate, since it is independent and non-political.
It has already given several positive assessments of GMOs for use in food and animal feed, but never for a "live" one that can be planted. Now, it has made its first foray into the controversial area of whether GMO crops are safe to be planted.
The maize, known as 1507, is made jointly by Pioneer Hi-Bred International, a subsidiary of DuPont Co, and Dow AgroSciences unit Mycogen seeds. It is engineered to resist the corn borer insect, among other pests, and a widely used type of herbicide.
"The Panel considers that 1507 maize will have similar impacts on the environment as other comparable non-GM maize cultivated plant varieties," EFSA said. The maize was also safe for use in animal feed and industrial processing, it said.
"The Panel is of the opinion that there is no evidence to indicate that the placing of 1507 maize and derived products on the market is likely to cause adverse effects on human or animal health or the environment," it said in a statement.
EFSA's views are used by the European Commission as independent scientific opinion on the safety risk of GMO products for entry into the food chain, for consumption by humans and animals and for release into the environment.
Despite the EU lifting its moratorium on new GMOs, there is little sign of any break in the deadlock between the EU's 25 governments on the issue of biotech crops for planting.