EU may allow sale of GMO seeds

BRUSSELS – The European Commission is likely to authorise the first genetically modified (GMO) seeds for commercial use across EU territory this week, in the face of widespread consumer resistance to biotech crops.

No biotech seeds have so far been approved at EU level, but some national authorisations exist in countries such as France and Spain. This means that only farmers in those countries can buy and then plant the approved seeds.However, under an established legal procedure, once an EU state gives the green light for a seed to be sold on its territory, the Commission is obliged eventually to extend that authorisation onto an EU-wide basis.At a meeting tomorrow, the EU executive will discuss entering 17 different strains of Monsanto’s 810 maize into what is called the Common Catalogue – the EU’s overall seed directory that includes all national seed catalogues.The parent maize seed, engineered to resist certain insects, won EU approval for cultivation just before the bloc began its ban on new GMO approvals in 1998 that lasted nearly six years.At present, very few “live” GMO crops may be grown in the EU.Tomorrow looks certain to be a busy GMO day for the 25-strong group of EU commissioners, several of whom are lukewarm, at best, on pressing ahead with more GMO approvals.Also likely to be on their agenda is a draft law on how much GMO material may be tolerated without labelling in batches of conventional seed — a highly controversial law that has bounced between the Commission’s various units for more than a year.The law’s latest version calls for a GMO content threshold of 0,3 per cent for maize and rapeseed, the only two biotech crops so far authorised.Batches of conventional seed with GMO material below those levels would not have to be labelled.-Nampa-ReutersThis means that only farmers in those countries can buy and then plant the approved seeds.However, under an established legal procedure, once an EU state gives the green light for a seed to be sold on its territory, the Commission is obliged eventually to extend that authorisation onto an EU-wide basis.At a meeting tomorrow, the EU executive will discuss entering 17 different strains of Monsanto’s 810 maize into what is called the Common Catalogue – the EU’s overall seed directory that includes all national seed catalogues.The parent maize seed, engineered to resist certain insects, won EU approval for cultivation just before the bloc began its ban on new GMO approvals in 1998 that lasted nearly six years.At present, very few “live” GMO crops may be grown in the EU.Tomorrow looks certain to be a busy GMO day for the 25-strong group of EU commissioners, several of whom are lukewarm, at best, on pressing ahead with more GMO approvals.Also likely to be on their agenda is a draft law on how much GMO material may be tolerated without labelling in batches of conventional seed — a highly controversial law that has bounced between the Commission’s various units for more than a year.The law’s latest version calls for a GMO content threshold of 0,3 per cent for maize and rapeseed, the only two biotech crops so far authorised.Batches of conventional seed with GMO material below those levels would not have to be labelled.-Nampa-Reuters