EFSA GMO Panel Concludes GM Maize MON 87429 Safe as Conventional Counterpart

The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) GMO Panel released its Scientific Opinion on the safety of genetically modified (GM) herbicide tolerant maize MON 87429, for import, processing, and food and feed uses within the European Union (EU), and does not include cultivation in the EU.

Following the submission of application EFSA-GMO-NL-2019-161 under Regulation (EU) No 503/2013 from Bayer Agriculture, the EFSA GMO Panel was asked to deliver a Scientific Opinion on the safety of GM maize MON 87429. In their Scientific Opinion, the GMO Panel reports that the molecular characterization data and bioinformatic analyses do not identify issues requiring food/feed safety assessment and that none of the identified differences in the agronomic/phenotypic and compositional characteristics tested between maize MON 87429 and its conventional counterpart needs further assessment. The GMO Panel does not identify safety concerns regarding the toxicity and allergenicity of the DMO, PAT, FT_T, and CP4 EPSPS proteins as expressed in maize MON 87429 and finds no evidence that the genetic modification impacts the overall safety of maize MON 87429.

In the context of this application, food and feed from maize MON 87429 do not represent a nutritional concern in humans and animals. The GMO Panel concludes that maize MON 87429 is as safe as the conventional counterpart and non-GM maize reference varieties tested, and no post-market monitoring of food/feed is considered necessary. In the case of the accidental release of viable maize MON 87429 grains into the environment, this would not raise environmental safety concerns.

For more details, read the scientific opinion in the EFSA Journal.