Brussels Threatens To Block Us Exports Of Modified Maize

The modified maize is visually indistinguishable from ordinary maize. Tests to examine the DNA in imported kernels are regarded as impracticable. The potential dispute follows a long-standing row over the EU's ban on hormone-treated beef, introduced in the late 1980s.

The US and other countries have lodged formal complaints with the World Trade Organisation against the Union's beef ban.

The maize was developed by Ciba, the Swiss-based chemicals group, to be genetically resistant to the European corn borer, a devastating crop pest. But it contains another gene which the UK authorities fear could confer antibiotic resistance to animals that eat it unprocessed. Austria, Denmark and Sweden are also worried about the environmental impact of the modified maize.

 

It is the first time a genetically engineered food product has failed to win backing from a majority of EU member states - to the surprise of both Ciba and the US authorities. Commission officials said yesterday that the US would not be able to export the genetically modified maize to the Union while Commission approval was still being withheld.