EU annuls disputed GM potato

By CnAgri2013-12-19 09:54:07 Print

Europe's second highest court has annulled a 'highly controversial' approval of GM potato Amflora after failings in the authorisation procedure.

On 13 December the General Court ruled that the European Commission had not followed the correct procedure in approving the GM Amflora potato and consequently annulled the authorisation.

The Amflora application, submitted by BASF Plant Science, was approved by the European Commission and European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) in June 2009.

The General Court said that, initially, scientific opinion within EFSA had been divided as to the safety of Amflora.

But after a review of the committee's decision it was decided that Amflora did not present a risk to human health or the environment.

Several EU countries noticed the discrepancy in the application and so the final decision was given to the General Court.

GM freeze director, Helena Paul, said: "The EU General Court annulment on Friday of the Commission's highly controversial approval of the GM potato Amflora is a lesson for the EU as it moves to consider the cultivation application for GM maize Pioneer1507.

"Given the disastrous rollout of Amflora, which had to be rolled back almost immediately after bad seed contaminated fields with a different unauthorised GM potato, it is also reasonable to reject any GM crop that is not properly assessed, authorised and controlled."

The decision to annul Amflora's approval leaves only Monsanto's GM maize, MON810, approved for growing in the EU.