Through its silence, the European Commission has been keeping Mon810 maize authorised since 15 years
Mon810 maize is the only transgenic GM plant authorized for commercial cultivation in the European Union. This authorization was initially granted, via France, almost 30 years ago, in 1998, for an initial period of 10 years. A renewal application was submitted in 2007. Since then, no decision has been taken by the European authorities. How this maize, which authorization theoretically expired in 2008, can still be grown legally in Europe? Simply because European law accepts that, as long as the European Commission has not responded to a request for renewal, the initial authorization remains valid. To date, it’s been 15 years that the Commission fails to respond to Bayer/Monsanto’s request.
25 years later, insecticidal GMOs face insect resistance
43 detections of insects having acquired resistance to the Bt proteins supposed to kill them were listed in a scientific article in 2023. 43 cases out of 73 studied, i.e. more than half. For the authors of the article, the use of insecticidal GMOs has been crowned with success, as in several cases it has made it possible to reduce or even eradicate local pests. But failures also occurred due to resistance. The authors believe that the future lies in a combination of technologies, among which is RNA interference.
In Spain, are some insects beginning to resist GM maize?
For almost 15 years, European and French experts have been recommending that Bayer improve environmental monitoring of commercial Mon810 corn crops in Spain and Portugal. This improvement is necessary, they say, to prevent target insects such as the European corn borer and sesamia from developing resistance to the insecticide produced by this transgenic corn. But year after year, Bayer only partially responds to these requests. Yet concerns are becoming increasingly serious and concrete, as demonstrated by the latest EFSA opinion, published in August 2024.
Catalonia: GMO Clearfield rapeseeds do not have better yields
In Spain, the public agronomy institute Irta regularly carries out evaluations of several varieties of rapeseed. Recently, they introduced into their evaluation some Clearfield rapeseed varieties, herbicide tolerant varieties modified via in vitro mutagenesis. Result: these GMOs, grown commercially in Europe outside the legal framework, do not have better yields than their conventional counterparts.
