The UK livestock industry has welcomed the EU approval of a new variety of
genetically modified (GM) soybean, but warned that, unless European policy
changes, a feed crisis could still be on the horizon.

The European Commission has authorised the import of GM soybean
RoundupReady2, as well as food and feed products derived from it. With
immediate effect, traces of technically unavoidable admixtures of this GM
soybean will be approved in agricultural imports.

Although member states blocked each other during the approval process, with
no qualified majority reached in the ?Standing Committee? or the Council of
Ministers, the decision was eventually passed to the EU Commission, who
approved the crop, based on a safety evaluation by the European Food Safety
Authority (EFSA).

Developed by Monsanto, the new MON89788 GM soybean is tolerant to the
herbicide Roundup. The new variety delivers higher yields than the
RoundupReady soybean and some 2.5 million hectares are expected to be
planted with RoundupReady2 soybeans by 2010.

The EU Commission and France, which currently holds the presidency of the EU
Council, hope that the authorisation of the RoundupReady2 will stave off
feared shortfalls in animal feed supplies, but the UK livestock industry has
warned that the solution is only temporary.

?For now, the decision will mean that a source of soya remains available to
the UK livestock industry, which is great, but one approval does not solve
the overall issue,? said NFU chief science and regulatory affairs adviser Dr
Helen Ferrier.

Mick Sloyan, chief executive of BPEX, added: ?There is already talk about
new varieties being planted next year. We need much faster approval in the
EU to keep up with plantings of GM crops in North and South America.?

The approval of GM crops takes much longer in Europe than in the US and
Latin America, which has limited sources of animal feed. In addition, a zero
policy on contamination has led to shipments of non-GM and approved GM soya
being turned away at European docks. The livestock industry has been
campaigning in Brussels to raise awareness of the difficulties caused by
these policies.

?RoundupReady2 was approved much quicker because the issue was raised at
such a high level,? said Ferrier. ?Hopefully it will show that the process
can be quicker and that stalling can be avoided while still ensuring that
the proper risk assessments are in place.?

Sloyan said the approval of RoundupReady2 still took ?an awfully long time?
and added that, once a variety has been approved in the US, approval in the
EU should follow swiftly. ?The bureaucracy surrounding EU authorisation is
completely ridiculous. A variety is either safe or it is not,? he said.

Two European groups are currently examining the EU?s GM authorisation
process ? one set up by the French presidency and one set up by José Manul
Barroso, president of the European Commission. Both are due to report back
at the beginning of next year.

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