An EU committee voted Feb. 22 to allow traces of unapproved genetically modified (GM) material in animal feed imports, the European Commission said, in a bid to secure grain supplies to the import-dependent bloc.
EU governments and lawmakers now have three months to either approve or reject the committee’s decision, before the rules can be adopted by the EU executive as law.
“In all likelihood the measure will be adopted by member states and EU parliamentarians, even if we expect a lively debate in the European Parliament,” one EU diplomat involved in the negotiations said.
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The Commission, industry and exporting countries argue the 0.1 per cent threshold is needed to avoid a repeat of supply disruptions in 2009, when U.S. soy shipments to Europe were blocked after tiny quantities of unapproved GM material were found in some cargoes
The limit “addresses the current uncertainty EU operators face when placing on the market feed based on imports of raw materials from third countries,” the Commission said in a statement.
Green groups accused the EU executive of caving in to GMindustry lobbying by reversing its “zero-tolerance” policy on unauthorized crops. “Weakening safety rules to appease the animal feed industry compromises human and environmental safety,” said Friends of the Earth food campaigner Mute Schimpf.
But the head of EU feedmakers’ association Fefac, Patrick Vanden Avenne, said the decision would “safeguard vital supplies of new crop protein feeds from South America to our EU livestock industry.”
