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EU – GM POTATOES TO BE DEBATED
EU to debate approving first "live" GMO in 8 years
24 November 2006. Source: Reuters via AgNet
BRUSSELS - The European Union will, according to this story, venture into the sensitive area of "live" genetically modified (GMO) crops next month, for the first time in eight years, when EU experts debate whether to let farmers grow biotech potatoes.
The story says that in December, when EU environment experts will discuss an application by German chemicals group BASF to grow a potato -- known as Amylogene -- that is genetically engineered to yield high amounts of starch.
BASF's application only relates to industrial processing, so the potatoes would not be consumed either by humans or animals.
However, the company has submitted a separate application -- no date is yet set for an EU discussion -- where the waste from processing would be incorporated into animal feed. "It's the first proposal that we'll be putting forward for cultivation since before the moratorium," an European Commission official said. The experts' debate is scheduled for Dec. 4.
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