Last-minute decision expected in ‘genetic’ maize dispute

Date: 05/12/1996

THE European Commission looks set to make its long-awaited decision on whether to approve a strain of genetically-modified maize at its final session before Christmas.

Latest indications are that the three scientific committees asked to look into the potential health risks of the product will recommend approval.

But whatever decision the Commission takes, it seems certain to run into a storm of protest. Approval of the product developed by Ciba Geigy might even bring Environment Commissioner Ritt Bjerregaard into conflict with her Commission colleagues.

Bjerregaard is due to report to environment ministers when they meet in Brussels on Monday (9 December), but she is unlikely to receive the final reports from the committees until the end of next week.

The timing of the decision remains critical - the Commission has already written to member states warning that imports of maize due from the US over the coming weeks could contain genetically-modified grains.

Pending a decision, such imports would be illegal. The Commission has made it clear to EU governments that it is their responsibility to ensure that existing Union legislation is respected.

Greenpeace claims the letter was prompted by suggestions that modified maize had already begun arriving at ports in Spain, Portugal, the Netherlands and Belgium. But US officials have expressed doubt about such claims, insisting duty-free import quotas for deliveries to Spain and Portugal have not yet been opened.

Trade Commissioner Sir Leon Brittan is anxious, above all, to avoid another trade dispute with Washington.

Bjerregaard has other concerns. A spokesman for the Commissioner said this week: “She is the one who will have to face the music in front of the Parliament. She may disassociate herself from the result if she is not satisfied.”

If the committees give the maize the go-ahead, the Commission would be able to authorise it fairly rapidly by written procedure. Only if there was a problem would the lengthy process of redrafting legislation have to begin.

Officials are still assessing whether last week's conciliation deal on the marketing of foodstuffs containing GMOs ('novel foods') will have any influence on the debate.

German Christian Democrat MEP Karl-Heinz Florenz has claimed that, in future, genetically-modified soya beans imported from the US would have to be labelled as such. But a member state official stressed that “if this product found its way into human food which was indistinguishable from conventional products, no special labelling would be needed”.