Franken Foods: EU set to ban US maize feed - all imports could be halted for we

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GMW: EU set to ban US maize feed - all imports could be

halted " for weeks "

 

" GM WATCH " <info

Wed, 13 Apr 2005 09:54:28 +0100

 

 

 

GM WATCH daily

http://www.gmwatch.org

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" The European Commission is to ask that each shipment is accompanied

with an analytical report - a measure that would halt all imports for

weeks. "

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EU set to ban US maize feed after GM scare

Bruno Waterfield

EU Politix

http://www.eupolitix.com/EN/News/200504/9f014809-1421-430b-b458-73b67a71d3fb.htm

 

The EU has moved closer to a ban on US maize-based animal feeds after

Europe's governments demanded that imports be certified free of

unauthorised GM crops.

 

EU member states on Tuesday agreed unanimously to proposals requiring

that all corn feed shipments from the US are guaranteed not to contain

the unauthorised GM maize BT10.

 

The move is likely to lead to a de-facto ban on EU imports of US

maize-based animal feed by the European Commission later this week.

 

A corn gluten feed trade worth Euro 347 million a year could be now be

hit after shipments of unauthorised GM crops were exported from the US.

 

The dispute centres on BT10, a biotech animal feed manufactured by

Swiss company Syngenta, sold to the US and exported to the EU without

approval.

 

The European Commission is to ask that each shipment is accompanied

with an analytical report - a measure that would halt all imports for

weeks.

 

" Exports of corn gluten feed from the US which are accompanied by this

analytical report would be allowed to enter the EU, but without this

analytical report they would not be allowed to enter the EU, " an EU

source told Reuters.

 

" We're talking about a measure which would say that exports of corn

gluten feed essentially should be certified, should be accompanied by an

analytical report by an accredited laboratory certifying that these

exports are free of Bt-10. "

 

EU health and consumer protection chief Markos Kyprianou has stressed

the need for tests that can detect, and thus prevent, unauthorised GM

entering Europe.

 

" Kyprianou continues to emphasise the importance of detection methods, "

said a commission spokesman on Tuesday.

 

Existing detection methods are modelled to test products for authorised

GM not unauthorised or experimental crops.

 

" We have detection methods for GMOs that are authorised. We do not have

one for this GMO because it is unauthorised, " said the commission

spokesman.

 

Syngenta is still developing reliable detection methods for BT 10 and

workable tests are not expected for another two weeks.

 

Any possibility of certifying imports would depend on the agribusiness

giant providing EU authorities with a BT10 test.

 

Although just 1000 tons of BT10 affected product was imported into the

EU, the row raises questions about the Europes ability to manage GM

crops.

 

Brussels is angry over the incident which has damaged the authority of

the EU's controversial, and already discredited, authorisation

procedures.

 

Syngenta insists BT10 poses no threat to human health and is very

similar to BT11, another genetically modified corn strain - already

approved

by the EU.

 

Friends of the Earth has attacked the companys secrecy over BT10 and

the GM crops antibiotic resistance gene.

 

" The failure of Syngenta to provide the basic information needed to

test for their contamination is a disgrace, " said a spokesman.

 

" The commission must insist that this secrecy ends and Syngenta sets up

a fund to pay for testing. The polluter must pay, not the public. "

 

 

 

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