By James Kanter
European Union environment officials have determined that two
kinds of genetically modified corn could harm butterflies, modify food
chains and disturb life in rivers and streams, and they have proposed a ban
on the sale of the seeds, which are made by Pioneer Hi-Bred, Dow
Agrosciences and Syngenta.
The preliminary decisions, seen by the International Herald Tribune,
are circulating within the European Commission, the EU executive, which has
the final say. Some officials there are skeptical about a ban that would
upset the powerful biotechnology industry and could exacerbate tensions with
important EU trading partners like the United States.

In the decisions, the EU environment commissioner, Stavros Dimas, says
that the genetically modified corn, or maize, seeds - which are not now
available on the European market for cultivation - could affect certain
butterfly species, specifically the monarch, and other beneficial insects.
For instance, research from 2007 indicates that larvae of the monarch
butterfly exposed to the genetically modified corn "behave differently than
other larvae."

In the decision concerning corn seeds produced by Dow and Pioneer,
Dimas calls "potential damage on the environment irreversible." In the
decision on Syngenta's corn, Dimas says that "the level of risk generated by
the cultivation of this product for the environment is unacceptable."

A decision by the EU to disallow cultivation of the genetically
modified crops would be the first of its kind in the trade bloc, making the
current battle over genetically modified corn ferocious.Since 1998, the
commission has not approved any applications for the cultivation of
genetically modified crops - but neither has the commission actively
rejected any applications, as would be the case with the genetically
modified corn products.

Banning the applications for corn cultivation also would mark a bold
new step for EU environmental authorities, who already are aggressively
pursuing regulations on emissions from cars and aircraft that have set it at
odds with the United States and angered industries.

"These products have been grown in the U.S. and other countries for
years," said Stephen Norton, a spokesman for the United States Trade
Representative. "We are not aware of any other case when a product has been
rejected after having been reviewed and determined safe by" European food
safety authorities, Norton said.

In 2005, the European Food Safety Authority, a European agency based
in Parma, Italy, that operates independently of the commission, ruled that
the products - 1507, produced by Dow and Pioneer, and Bt11, produced by
Syngenta - were unlikely to have an adverse effect on human and animal
health or the environment. In the draft decision, Dimas said that other
studies had since come to light on the potential effects of the seeds, and
that further investigation was needed.

Environmentalists are seizing on the issue, too.

On Wednesday they called on José Manuel Barroso, president of the
European Commission, to resist delaying the date for a meeting where the
bans could be decided on, and they told him that a ban would have the
support of many members of the European public.

"We believe that all commissioners should be given the right to
express their views on this matter, which is of great concern to European
citizens in all member states," Jorgo Riss, director of the European unit of
Greenpeace, wrote in a letter to Barroso co-signed by Friends of the Earth
and a number of other groups dedicated to farmers and consumers. "The vast
majority of European citizens and consumers are opposed to genetically
engineered plants in agriculture and for food," Riss wrote.

Barbara Helfferich, a spokeswoman for Dimas, declined to comment on
the specifics of the procedure because commissioners had not yet made a
final decision. But she said that the EU was within its rights to make
decisions based on the "precautionary principle," even when scientists have
found no definitive evidence proving products can cause harm.

"The commission has the authority to be a risk manager when it comes
to the safety and science of genetically modified crops," said Helfferich.

She said that the decisions by Dimas could go before the commission
within the next few weeks, but she, as well as a spokesman for Barroso, said
that no date had yet been set.

In the decisions, Dimas cited research from 2007 showing that
consumption of genetically modified "corn byproducts reduced growth and
increased mortality of non-target stream insects" and that these insects
"are important prey for aquatic and riparian predators" and that this could
have "unexpected ecosystem-scale consequences."
Although still preliminary, Dimas's decisions could dramatically tilt
the EU policy against future approvals of genetically modified crops, said
Nathalie Moll, a spokeswoman for Europabio, an industry group with 80
members including Syngenta, Pioneer and Dow.

The decisions "would be setting a precedent for EU officials to reject
products based on nonverified scientific data," said Moll.

Europabio says that the crops grown using the genetically modified
corn already are imported into several EU countries, including France and
Germany, where they are used to feed animals like cows and chickens.

Rob Gianfranceschi, spokesman at the U.S. Mission to the EU in
Brussels, said it was too early to comment on a decision that had not yet
been formalized. But he made clear that the United States remained
frustrated with EU policies on genetically modified crops.

"The United States has consistently stated that the EU continues to
lack a predictable, workable process for approving these products in a way
that reflects scientific rather than political factors," Gianfranceschi
said.

Last year, in a victory for the United States, Canada and Argentina,
the World Trade Organization ruled that the EU was wrongly delaying
approvals of genetically modified products and that some countries, like
Austria and Hungary, were wrongly banning the import and cultivation of
crops.

Moll said the industry still was waiting to see whether the United
States and Canada decide to retaliate against the EU for its policies on
genetically modified crops.

Only one genetically modified crop is currently grown in Europe, a
form of corn produced by Monsanto and nine other companies. Spain began
growing that crop 10 years ago, followed by France, the Czech Republic,
Poland, Slovakia, Romania, Portugal and Germany. But in a major blow to the
biotechnology industry in France, President Nicolas Sarkozy last month vowed
to suspend the cultivation of genetically modified crops.

Austria, Hungary and Poland also have banned the Monsanto corn,
according to Greenpeace.

Moll of Europabio said the two genetically modified corn varieties
Dimas proposed to ban are engineered to produce a toxin, commonly called Bt,
that is poisonous to certain insect pests that lodge inside cobs and stalks
and eat the plant from the inside. Protecting plants from these insects is
important, she said, because the damage leaves the plants open to attack by
fungi that produce a different toxin, fumonisin, which can enter the food
chain and make products like milk unusable.

"Farmers in Europe must see a benefit in Bt corn because it protects
against attacks by one of the major maize pests in Europe," said Moll,
adding that there had been a 77 percent increase in cultivation over the
past year. Even so, corn represents only 14 percent of European agriculture,
with the genetically modified product representing just 1 percent of that
amount.

Across the rest of the world, said Moll, more than 200 genetically
modified crops are being grown in countries from the United States to the
Philippines.

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