EFSA GMO Watch

On 2 March 2010, the EU Commission authorized the GM starch potato Amflora for cultivation as well as as feed and as contamination in food, as long as it stays below a 0.9% threshold. This is the first cultivation authorization since 1998. In 2007, EU ministers could not come to a qualified majority for against it, so it was up to the Commission to take this decision - as it has done so far with every GMO that is authorized in the EU.
Even more interesting in the context of this newsletter hoever is the fact that the EU Commission in this decision openly disagrees with the EFSA opinion; namely about the need for post-market monitoring and on the food safety of Amflora.
The GMO panel had concluded that the studies for the environmental risk assessment (e.r.a.) were sufficient to conclude that there were no adverse effects to be be expected, and that no case specific monitoring would be required. In its decision proposal in 2007, Environmental Commissioner Dimas had propsed a case specific monitoring and had explicitly outlined that BASF would need to "undertake field studies to monitor the potential adverse effects on potato-feeding organisms in the fields where [Amflora] is cultivated and in their vicinity." The proposal also states that the monitoring plan needs to be reworked.
In the food and feed application, the GMO panel had also come to the conclusion that there were no reasons for concerns, however the EU Commission only authorized Amflora as such as feed, and restricted the use as food to an amount of 0.9%, even though none of this was discussed in EFSA's risk assessment.