European moratorium on GM food may end

The European Commission has indicated it may push through a new directive governing the approval of new types of genetically modified (GM) food. The commission said the time had come to accept that GM food did not pose a serious threat to public health and that new types of GM food should be approved. But environmental pressure group Greenpeace has accused the commission of being in the pocket of US biotechnology firms waiting to get their products approved in Europe.

No new GM crops have been authorised for sale or use in the European Union for the past two years, after public concerns prompted environment ministers to demand stricter regulation. David Byrne, the commissioner in charge of consumer protection, said the new legislation was sufficiently rigorous to guarantee the safety of GM food as far as this was scientifically possible. The new proposals were debated at a meeting in Paris last weekend.