European Union governments deadlocked Monday on an application to allow imports of a herbicide-resistant corn for human consumption, but the bloc's executive body approved the same product's use for animal feed.
The opposing decisions reflect continuing divisions on genetically modified crops, despite the lifting last spring of Europe's de facto moratorium on new products.
EU agriculture ministers failed to get a majority for or against allowing Monsanto Co.'s Roundup Ready corn, which is widely grown in the United States and elsewhere, to be imported for food or food ingredients, officials said. The application did not cover cultivation.
Roundup Ready corn, which is engineered to resist the U.S. company's Roundup herbicide, received a clean bill of health from the European Food Safety Authority last year.
"Its safety is, therefore, not in question, and neither is the question of user or consumer choice," said EU Environment Commissioner Margot Wallstrom, who backed the application. Strict labeling laws for genetically modified products went into effect across the EU last April.
Nine EU countries -- Latvia, Denmark, Cyprus, Malta, Italy, Greece, Austria, Portugal and Luxembourg -- voted against the license. Nine others -- Czech Republic, Slovakia, Belgium, France, Ireland, Netherlands, Finland, Sweden and Britain -- voted in favor.
Hungary, Slovenia, Germany and Spain abstained, while Estonia and Poland expressed no view.
Environment ministers split along similar lines last month when considering Roundup Ready corn imports for animal feed.
That application was approved Monday by the EU's executive Commission. Under EU rules, if ministers don't agree in 90 days, the commission decides.
However, imports for feed can't start until the equivalent approval has been granted for food. That means they will have to wait until after Sept. 29, when the food application is expected to go back to the commission.
The political stalemate highlights continuing unease in Europe over biotech foods despite the resumption in May of new approvals, which had been on hold for six years due to public fears about perceived health and environmental risks.
After a similar deadlock, the commission approved a biotech variety of corn made by Switzerland's Syngenta AG for import and sale, but not cultivation.
EuropaBio, the European association for bioindustries, welcomed the commission's second approval. "We hope that further approvals will follow," secretary general Johan Vanhemelrijck said Monday.
St. Louis-based Monsanto voiced similar views.
"We're hopeful that this is a signal that the European communities and its member states are serious about ending the moratorium on biotech approvals," said Brett Benemann, a Monsanto executive vice president.
Monsanto shares finished the session unchanged Monday at $36.58.
Despite Europe's long-entrenched resistance, genetically modified crops continue to sprout around the world in increasing number each year.
Farmers grew genetically modified plants on 167 million acres last year, compared to 4.3 million acres in 1996, according to the industry-supported International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-biotech Applications.
Spain is the only European Union country to plant significant amounts of biotech crops, with 79,000 acres of genetically modified corn in 2003, up a third from 2002. Corn is the second most popular biotech crop globally, next to soy, followed by canola and cotton.
More than 40 percent of the corn grown in the United States is genetically modified with bacteria genes to either resist pests or Monsanto's herbicide. U.S. corn farmers have long lobbied the Bush administration to help force open the European market to their biotech crops.
The U.S. administration has accused the EU of violating international trade rules and exacerbating global hunger by hindering the marketing of genetically modified food for political, rather than scientific reasons.
Washington has said it will pursue its complaint against the EU at the World Trade Organization until it believes applications are being handled in an "objective, predictable manner." An initial ruling is expected in September.Chattanooga Times Free Press:
