Anger as EU orders stricter control of US maize imports

By Jerome Glass

Date: 21/04/05

EU Member states last week voted to block imports of certain types of maize from the United States until they have been certified free from unauthorised genetically modified organisms (GMOs).

The move comes in the wake of the furore surrounding the inadvertent import into the EU of 1,000 tonnes of Bt10, a maize produced by Swiss-based biotech firm Syngenta that has not been approved by EU regulators. The crop entered the EU via the import channels of an authorised maize, Bt11.

An emergency meeting of the Standing Committee on the Food Chain and Animal Health, which is made up of representatives from the member states and the European Commission, approved a Commission proposal to tighten up import controls on GMOs.

Under the proposal, consignments of animal feed maize and brewer's grain from the US must be accompanied by a laboratory report proving that they are free from Bt10. The two types of crop concerned are those which are most likely to have been contaminated by the Bt10 mix-up. As well as being responsible for enforcing the tougher import rules, member states will also be required to carry out random sampling of products already on the market in order to ensure that more Bt10 has not slipped through. But a statement from the Commission notes that according to current information "food products in the EU are not affected and they are therefore not included in the scope of the emergency measures".

Markos Kyprianou, the health commissioner, described the action as "a targeted measure which is necessary to uphold EU law, maintain consumer confidence and ensure that the unauthorised Bt10 cannot enter the EU". He said that "this measure is designed to affect trade as little as possible".

The chief operating officer of Syngenta Seeds, Mike Mack, supported the Commission's stance. "We respect the Commission's announcement to ensure compliance with the existing regulations, which is fundamental to retaining consumer confidence," he said.

But the US Mission to the EU condemned the measure as "an over-reaction", claiming that "there is no reason to expect any negative impact from the small amounts of Bt10 maize that may have entered the EU".

The implementation of the measures depends on Syngenta providing a validated testing method for identifying the Bt10 strain, something which is proving harder than expected because of the similarities between Bt10 and Bt11 and the relatively low levels of Bt10 involved. A Commission spokesman said that following demands for detection information, "Syngenta have provided a detection method, but not a validated detection method".

A spokesman for Syngenta said it had now developed a method which "would be ready within a few days", but that obtaining validation from the Commission's Joint Research Centre might lengthen the process.

An emergency meeting of the Standing Committee on the Food Chain and Animal Health, which is made up of representatives from the Member States and the European Commission, approved a European Commission proposal to tighten up import controls on GMOs. This came after genetically modified maize from a strain not authorised by the European Commission had been discovered in the European Union.

European Food Safety Agency: Press release: 12.4.05 http://www.efsa.europa.eu/press_room/press_statements/884/efsa_statement_bt10maize_en1.pdf

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