(RT) A controversial, genetically modified super-maize from Monsanto is set to be approved for cultivation across the European Union by late October despite safety concerns, German media reports.
Despite EU regulators last month thwarting the expansion of the world’s largest seed corporation, it appears Germany won’t escape new GMO crops.
“The decision rests with the European Commission, which will agree with the import in September or October," a spokesperson for the EU Consumer Protection Commissioner, Tonio Borg, told Germany’s Zeit Online. The spokesperson said the decision would come after a “rigorous, scientific evaluation process.”
SmartStax GM maize was developed in the US by Monsanto and Dow AgroSciences. It combines the genes of two already genetically modified maize varieties. SmartStax is resistant to two types of herbicides and poisons against six different species of insects, such as the European corn borer. The seed includes eight artificially added genes – previously, the biggest number of such genes added to a single plant was three.
Monsanto and Dow AgroSciences have been lobbying for SmartStax in Europe for the last five years, having first applied for EU marketing approval in 2008.
In 2010, the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) concluded that SmartStax was “as safe as conventionally bred maize and commercial versions in regard [to the] potential impact on the health of humans, animals and on the environment.”
A study completed the next year also came to the same conclusion - that SmartStax was safe.
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