‚Zero tolerance’ of GM: New problems with the import of feed?

(11 March 2010) The European feed industry once again has warned of problems with the import of feed in the case that the EU upholds its policy of ‘zero tolerance’ for unapproved genetically modified (GM) plants. John Dalli, EU Commissioner for Consumer Protection, is expected to suggest new solutions “in a matter of weeks”.

“This spring, new genetically modified plants will be sown in North and South America. It’s unlikely that they will be approved for import to the EU by harvest time in October,” stated Klaus-Dieter Schumacher in a statement to the news agency Reuters as speaker for EU Grain and Oilseeds traders' association (Coceral). “This may lead to a similarly difficult situation to the past autumn.” According to Mr Schumacher, a solution to the problem is “mored urgent than ever.”

Currently, a ‘zero-tolerance’ policy is maintained in the EU towards low-level traces of unapproved GM plants. Last autumn, traces of such GM maize lines repeatedly were found in feed imports from the USA. Such shipments may not enter the EU. In the meanwhile, the European Commission has issued import approval for the GM maize lines in question.

The EU Commissioner for Consumer Protection has announced his intention within weeks to postulate solutions for the problem of minimal GM admixtures. It is expected that the Commission will issue ‘technical guidelines’ with regard, for example, to standardised analysis procedures and sampling for GM organisms (GMO).

Such a technical solution appears more readily realisable than protracted and politically controversial changes in the existing European regulations for gene technology. A threshold value for admixtures of unapproved GM plants, as repeatedly has been demanded by representatives of the agriculture and feed industries, nonetheless may be established by legislative means only.

In their approach to green gene technology, the major agricultural exporter countries in North and South America and their recipient markets in Europe are developing increasingly different manners. Approval and the commercial use of newly-developed GM plants are carried out significantly faster on the other side of the Atlantic than in gene-technology-sceptic Europe. The problem of minimal admixtures GMO is an expression of this widening gap.

In the USA, SmartStax maize will debut on the market in 2010. The maize produces six different Bt proteins and resists thereby a variety of pests. In addition, the maize is tolerant of two active substances used to combat weeds. Monsanto and Dow Agro Science, joint developers of the SmartStax maize, calculate a field area of at least 1.6 million hectares already in this year. An application has been submitted for the approval of import of SmartStax products to the EU. However, a decision is not in sight.

See also on GMO-Compass:

• 2009 as well: Cultivation of GM plants continues to rise