Greece and Hungary, on separate cases, have forwarded to the European
Commission (EC) a decision to provisionally prohibit the cultivation of the
authorized genetically modified maize Mon810.
The prohibition is based on the existing safeguard clause invoked under
Article 23 of the EC directive on the deliberate release of GMOs into the
environment (2001/18/EC). As a consequence, the EC requested the European
Food Safety Authority?s (EFSA) Scientific Panel on Genetically Modified
Organisms (GMO Panel) to determine whether there is any evidences that the
placing on the market of MON810 seeds is likely to cause any adverse effects
on human health and the environment.

The GMO Panel, having considered all relevant publications and information
provided by the Greek and Hungarian authorities, concluded, that no new
scientific evidence was presented that would invalidate the previous risk
assessments of the GM maize. EFSA further said that the scientific evidence
currently available does not sustain the arguments provided by Greece and
Hungary and that cultivation of maize MON810 is unlikely to endanger human
and animal health or the environment.
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