BRUSSELS, Nov 5 (Reuters) - European Union governments on Wednesday stalled for two months European Commission attempts to prevent Austria and Luxembourg banning imports of genetically- modified maize, EC officials said.
The decision was welcomed by Greenpeace, though the environmental organisation said it would have prefered an outright rejection of Commission plans to overturn national bans on gene-altered maize.
Denmark and Sweden wrote to European Environment Commissioner Ritt Bjerregaard last week urging her to delay plans to repeal the Austrian and Luxembourg bans, saying there was still widespread public anxiety about the consequences of using gene technology.
They also said they were concerned that the Commission had failed to start monitoring insect resistance to the Bt toxin, despite a commitment to do so in December 1996.
The maize, produced by the Swiss agrochemical multinational Novartis, contains a Bt toxin which is designed to ward off pests.
But this may result in insects becoming resistant to the toxin, which is used in natural formulations by organic farmers, according to Greenpeace.
Austria, worried by health risks, last December unilaterally banned imports of the maize, which is resistant to the herbicide gluphosinate. Luxembourg and Italy followed suit but the Commission said on September 10 that there was no scientific justification for their bans.
Luxembourg and Austria have vowed to fight any decision to repeal the ban in the European Court of Justice.
Under EU procedures, the Commission's decision can only be overturned competely if all 15 member states vote against it.
In a separate development, Europe's biotechnology industry has attacked the Commission for not producing detailed rules for implementing a new EU law on the labelling of genetically-modified maize and soyabeans.
The new labelling regulation came into force on November 1.
"Operators in the food chain...need these rules for the practical implementaion of the regulation and to ensure they are in compliance," the European Association for Bioindustries (Europabio) said in a statement. REUTERS
14:48 11-05-97
11/20/97