This month, following years of disagreement, the EU passed legislation allowing new strains of GM crops to be approved for growing. However, the law allows member states to ban the crops even if approved by the European Commission. France, for example, is opposed to GM crops and will continue to ban 1507, a strain of insect-resistant maize likely to be among the first GM crops to be approved. Previously, member states could provisionally restrict or ban such crops domestically only in emergencies or under new evidence of a risk to the environment or human health. The only GM crop grown in Europe, in Spain and Portugal, has been MON810 maize. Also expected to gain approval are imports of some GM crops for food or feed.

Source: Reuters