Time to stop the cultivation of genetically engineered maize MON810
30 April 2015by testbiotech -- last modified 30 April 2015
As several documents from Monsanto, the EU Commission and European Food Safety Authority EFSA show, cultivation of genetically engineered maize MON810 does not comply with EU regulations.
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The main problem is the legally required monitoring of potentially
adverse environmental effects. There is also new evidence that the
environmental risk assessment for MON810 carried out by EFSA was based
on flawed assumptions. Maize MON810 is the only genetically engineered
crop authorised for cultivation in the EU. In a letter to the EU
Commission, Testbiotech is now requesting that the cultivation of MON810
is stopped in 2015.
EU regulation 2001/18 requires that the
holder of the EU authorisation provides monitoring reports on
potentially adverse effects for each year the crop is grown. However,
according to EFSA, Monsanto´s latest report for the year 2013 is of such
poor quality that EFSA experts have said they "cannot conclude on
potential unanticipated adverse effects due to the cultivation of maize
MON 810". In a letter to the Commission dated November 2014, Monsanto
states they will not be able to monitor the cultivation of MON810 at all
in future, because the patent on MON810 has expired and other companies
might now start to sell the crop.
"It appears that the company
has simply failed to establish networks that would allow the monitoring
of MON810 cultivation after the patent expired", says Christoph Then for
Testbiotech. "But Monsanto, as the holder of the EU authorisation, has
to provide the legally required information. If no reliable monitoring
information can be made available, cultivation of MON810 has to be
stopped."
Failing to comply with monitoring obligations is not
the only problem for Monsanto. A recent publication has raised doubts
about the genetic stability of the plants when grown under stressful
conditions such as climate change. In addition, one of the crucial
assumptions in the risk assessment of MON810 seems to be flawed: As a
publication from 2014 shows, the exposure of protected butterflies to
insecticidal toxins produced in the pollen of the plants is higher than
assumed by EFSA.
Testbiotech is a centre of expertise concerned mainly with the ecological, social and ethical consequences of modern biotechnology.
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