EU Council of Ministers: Second generation of GM soybeans close to authorisation

(23 November 2008) The EU Council of Agricultural Ministers was not able to come to a decision on the authorisation of the GM RoundupReady2 soybean (89788). Now it is expected that the EU Commission will give the green light for the import of this new soybean.

Voting in the Council of Ministers mirrored voting in the Standing Committee: there was no qualified majority of Member States either for or against authorisation of the RoundupReady2 soybean. Germany abstained, as did France and Italy. Voting for the authorisation were Great Britain, Spain, Sweden, the Netherlands and Finland. As per EU regulations, it is now up to the EU Commission to decide. It had already announced that it would approve the import of the new GM soybean as well as food and feed products derived from it. This decision was based on the risk evaluation carried out by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA).

The second-generation herbicide-resistant soybean, developed by Monsanto, is due for large-scale cultivation in the US from 2009. A quick market penetration is expected since the new variety gives significantly higher yields than the RoundupReady soybean, which has been in use since 1996. It is estimated that some 2.5 million hectares of RoundupReady2 soybeans will be cultivated in 2010. Future soy imports from the US will thus contain a certain proportion of the new GM soybean.

The pending import authorisation will also allow up to 0.9 percent of accidental, technically unavoidable admixtures of RoundupReady2 soybeans in food and feed in the EU without labelling.

See also on GMO-Compass:

• GMO Database: Soybean MON89788