No majority in second vote on new cultivation of genetically engineered maize

27 March 2017 / Today representatives of the Member States and the EU Commission met to discuss and vote on the cultivation of genetically engineered maize. The EU Commission wants to give new authorisations for the cultivation of genetically engineered maize before the growing season 2017 starts. Three variants of transgenic maize expressing insecticidal toxins, registered as MON810, Maize 1507 and Bt 11, are being considered. Monsanto, DuPont/Pioneer and Syngenta are pushing for the market introduction of the seeds.

As shown in a new Testbiotech backgrounder, large-scale cultivation of the transgenic plants can result in risks to agro-ecosystems, such as gene flow to teosinte, a wild relative of maize which has been spreading in fields in Spain for several years. Today’s meeting didn't end in a qualified majority vote to reach a decision. It is now up to the EU Commission to decide within the next weeks.

Contact:

Christoph Then, Tel 00 49 (0) 151 54638040, info@testbiotech.org

Further Informations:

Testbiotech reports on the cultivation of genetically engineered maize: www.testbiotech.org/en/node/1759

Testbiotech report on the standards for assessing the health risks of genetically engineered plants: www.testbiotech.org/en/node/1668

Testbiotech assessment of the proposed changes of the EU Commission for environmental risk assessment: www.testbiotech.org/en/node/1776