The European Union is expected to end a five-year ban on approvals of new genetically modified foods, paving the way for a biotech corn product to hit Europe’s supermarket shelves.
The EU’s trade partners, including the United States, have pressured the bloc to end the ban, but many consumers remain wary.
The opportunity to end the ban came after a meeting of the EU’s 15 agriculture ministers failed to break a longstanding deadlock on whether to approve a variety of corn known as Bt-11, marketed by Swiss agrochemicals giant Syngenta.
The European Commission now has the legal power to rubber-stamp a request for imports of Bt-11, although there is no formal time limit for the EU executive to act. Bt-11 corn would be for consumption from the can, not for growing in Europe’s fields.
“We’re now in business. The laws are in place and we can do this (authorize Bt-11) in such a way that consumers are protected,” EU Health and Consumer Protection Commissioner David Byrne told reporters Monday. “It is therefore logical that we move ahead with pending authorizations."
He said he expected approval in late May or early June.
The views of EU member states at the farm ministers meeting were largely unchanged from a previous meeting on Bt-11 in December.
Two countries surprised observers by altering their positions. Italy, usually a skeptic on the issue, voted in favor, while Spain, which had previously backed approval, abstained.
The last EU approval of any genetically modified product was in October 1998 for a type of carnation. The last food product, a type of corn, was approved in April that year.
Six EU governments backed the proposal to authorize Bt-11: Ireland, Britain, Italy, the Netherlands, Finland and Sweden. France, Austria, Greece, Portugal, Denmark and Luxembourg voted against. Belgium, Spain and Germany abstained.
The ending of the biotech ban is likely to be welcomed by the EU’s top trading partners, such as the United States, which, along with Argentina and Canada, have challenged the EU ban at the World Trade Organization.
Environmental groups are fiercely opposed to the lifting of the ban, citing safety concerns.
Polls have also shown that most consumers are opposed to biotech foods in Europe, where public opposition to genetically modified produce is estimated at more than 70 percent.
The ban was triggered when a handful of EU countries said in 1998 they would refuse new authorizations until there were stricter laws on testing and labeling. U.S. farmers say the moratorium costs them millions of dollars a year in lost sales.
The real battle for EU biotech policy, diplomats say, is when the bloc gives a green light to plant live GM crops. That will be the acid test of whether the moratorium is really over.