ASA Calls on EU to Issue Import Approvals for 13 Biotech Traits

The American Soybean Association (ASA) and fellow farm groups sent a letter to European Health and Food Safety Commissioner Vytenis Andriukaitis, urging that draft import authorizations for 13 new biotechnology products be considered without further delay by the European Union's College of Commissioners. Import authorizations for soybeans, corn, canola and cotton are pending, some for more than a year. The ASA and the other groups noted that, while the process for approving new biotech traits had slowed in recent years, it now appears to have come to a "complete stop."

"All of these products have received positive European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) scientific assessments and have been considered by the Standing Committee on the Food Chain and Animal Health and the Appeals Committee," wrote the groups. The group added that timely action by the European Commission will avoid the risk of disruption to the essential supply of feedstocks needed by the EU's livestock, poultry and feed industries, which are more than 70 percent dependent on imported protein. The last import authorizations for new biotech crops were issued by the European Commission in November 2013.

The entire letter is available on the ASA website.