Genetically Modified Foods: EU Study: Economic risks for EU meat industry due to slow approvals
GMO Compass
June 22, 2007
Excerpt…
The slow approval procedures for GM plants in the EU likely will affect the European meat industry, according to an internal report of the European Commissions’ DG AGRI cited by Agrar Europe. While an average of only 15 months is needed for the approval of a new GM plant in the USA, 2.5 to 10 years are required in the EU.
This "asynchronous authorisation" already has caused trouble for food and feed producers, such as in cases of GM maize approved in the USA but not in the EU. However, a new soy bean variety, Roundup Ready 2 from Monsanto, is likely to have an impact unseen before. The main EU-importing countries USA, Argentina and Brazil are likely to have adopted the new variety by 2009/10, whereas the process will take several years in the EU and potentially will lead to a shortfall of soy imports.
Due to the importance of soy as feed in the farming of pigs and poultry, the report predicted extreme changes in the EU meat sector. In the worst-case scenario, the EU would be faced with an import deficit of 32 million tonnes, of which only approximately 20 percent could be substituted by increased local production….
Full article at GMO Compass.
