EFSA Releases Scientific Opinions on Syngenta and Bayer's GMO Applications

The European Food and Safety Authority's scientific panel on genetically modified organism has released its opinion on the use of Bt11xGA21, Syngenta's stacked maize event, for feed and food, import and processing in the European Union. The maize has been genetically modified to produce the Cry1Ab protein, which provides resistance to lepidopteran pests, and the PAT and ESPS proteins, which confer tolerance to glufosinate and glyphosate herbicides. The Panel said that comparative analysis of phenotypic, agronomic and compositional characteristics of the GM maize indicated equivalence with its non-GM maize counterpart and conventional maize, except for the expression of the foreign genes. EFSA said that the GM maize "is unlikely to have any adverse effect on human and animal health or on the environment in the context of its intended uses."

The same conclusion was made by the EU food watchdog on its assessment of the application submitted by Bayer CropScience for the continued marketing of products derived from the glufosinate-tolerant oilseed rape varieties Ms8 and Rf3. The GMO panel, in its opinion paper, noted that animal studies revealed that tested materials of oilseed rape were nutritionally equivalent to their non-GM counterparts. In addition, bioinformatics studies using updated databases confirmed that no relevant similarities exist between the newly expressed proteins and known allergens or toxic proteins.

Copies of the scientific opinions are available for download at http://www.efsa.europa.eu/cs/BlobServer/Scientific_Opinion/gmo_op_ej1319_GMmaize_Bt11xGA21.pdf?ssbinary=true and http://www.efsa.europa.eu/cs/BlobServer/Scientific_Opinion/gmo_op_ej1318_RX-Ms8xRf3_en.pdf?ssbinary=true