EU approves low level adventitious presence in GM products no longer on the market

26-Mar-2007

On Tuesday 20 March, the EU Standing Committee for the food Chain and Animal Health voted in favour of a 0.9% threshold for the low level adventitious presence of five GM products that are no longer commercially available. The threshold applies to the five "first-generation" GM crops that are no longer sold by Bayer, Monsanto and Syngenta, as improved products have replaced these. Since the companies no longer market these crops anywhere in the world, they are not seeking renewal for EU market approval. However, the Commission has recognised that "minute traces" of these 5 GM products "might remain present in food or feed products for a certain period of time".

EuropaBio has previously proposed the establishment of adventitious presence thresholds for such GMOs in food and feed products and is very pleased to see that this proposal marks a decisive step in the right direction.

Under European legislation, approvals for these products would have expired next month. Since the companies are not seeking further approvals of these products in the EU, the Standing Committee has proposed to formally "withdraw" the products from the market. According to standard procedure, the European Commission explained these proposals to the European Parliament's Environment Committee ("droit de regard"), a final decision on the proposals is expected to follow within the next five weeks.

Meanwhile, EuropaBio's member companies remain fully committed to developing improved crop varieties using genetic modification. When approved by the EU's regulators for placing on the market these will complement those existing GM crops that have, since 1998, seen an increasing yearly demand from, and been grown by, an increasing number farmers in European Member States.

https://www.bionity.com/en/news/63048/eu-approves-low-level-adventitious-presence-in-gm-products-no-longer-on-the-market.html