EU Supports Monsanto GM Corn Traits And Products

Posted by Matt Hopkins|6 July 2009

Monsanto Company announced that experts at the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) has issued a favorable scientific opinion on the company’s Roundup Ready 2 corn product for cultivation. EFSA also reconfirmed the safety of YieldGard insect-protected corn trait. In its opinion, EFSA confirmed that the product, also known as MON 810, is safe for cultivation, animal feed and human consumption. YieldGard works by enabling corn plants to produce a protein called Cry1Ab which comes from a naturally-occurring bacteria called Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt). When the European corn borer pest attacks and eats a portion of the plant, the protein then adheres to the gut of the insect and causes it to stop feeding.

The in-depth safety review of the YieldGard insect-protected corn borer technology is required every 10 years. The original review and approval of MON 810 in the European Union occurred in 1998. The extensive scientific review considered all of the new safety studies conducted since then. In 2008, farmers in seven EU Member States planted YieldGard corn borer technology on the more than 107,000 hectares. Around the world, farmers use the technology to protect on-farm yields on more than 22 million hectares annually.

Following the positive opinion from EFSA, the European Commission is now required to propose renewal of the existing MON 810 approval for cultivation and all other uses, as for conventional maize, so that European farmers can continue to have access to MON 810 hybrids in the future. This proposal will be considered by the Regulatory Committee, comprising representatives of all 27 EU Member States. Completion of the renewal process is also a condition for the lifting of Member State bans on the cultivation of the MON 810, including France and Germany.

EFSA scientists also confirmed that herbicide-tolerant Roundup Ready 2 corn is as safe as conventional maize for all uses, including cultivation, across the entire European Union. The EFSA declaration follows an extensive four-year review of scientific information on Monsanto’s Roundup Ready Corn 2 technology, also known as NK603. EFSA, working in conjunction with the 27 EU Member States, reviewed an extensive volume of information on the product’s safety, including a comprehensive set of safety studies conducted according to EU and international guidelines, and numerous peer-reviewed and published scientific articles. Following the positive opinion from EFSA, the European Commission can now draft a proposal for approval for consideration by
the Commission’s Regulatory Committee.

Corn farmers across the globe use the Roundup Ready technology on more than 30 million hectares (75 m acres) as a highly effective weed management option that helps protect yields.