Massive rise in GM farming still not enough, says Europes biotech industry

Despite long-standing and recently more pronounced scepticism of genetically modified organisms (GMOs), the past 12 months have seen a massive 77% increase in the area planted with genetically modified crops in Europe. More than 1,000 square kilometres of GM maize was harvested.

Presenting those figures on 29 October in Brussels, EuropaBio, the association of European biotechnology industries, called for a further increase in the cultivation of GM maize, more specifically Bt maize, as well as a speedier approval for other crops at European level. According to EuropaBio, more than 60 crops are currently delayed in the EU approval system or 'stuck in the backlog'.

'If it is clear from risk assessment that the product is safe, then that product should nearly automatically receive approval,' said Johann Vanhemelrijck, secretary general of EuropaBio, in a CORDIS News interview, calling on policy-makers to base their decisions more reliably on scientific research. 'Only then will companies continue to invest in research. It is not possible to ask the companies to contribute two-thirds to the 3% of the Lisbon target for research if you do not allow the products that result from this research [to be commercialised],' he added.

Currently, the only GM crop approved for planting in the EU is Bt corn, which is resistant to the corn borer - a moth larva that eats the plant's stem and ear, boring holes in the process that clear the way for potentially toxic fungi to spread. Bt corn, a variety of transgenic maize, has had its genome modified to include a gene from the Bacillus thuringiensis and produce a toxin which affects the corn borer. Critics have warned, however, that the modified maize variety also affects beneficial insects.