EFSA favours cultivation of Roundup Ready Soy in the EU

The European Food Safety Authority EFSA has given a positive opinion on the cultivation of GE soy in the EU for the first time, Testbiotech reports. The EU Commission and Member States now have to decide on final market authorisation. The applicant Monsanto intends to sell its seeds for herbicide tolerant Roundup Ready soy to European farmers.
 

The GE soy can currently be imported but not grown in the EU. But as a new legal dossier prepared on behalf of Testbiotech shows, the authorisation as planned would violate existing EU law because residues remaining in the plants from spraying with the herbicide were not taken into account during risk assessment. Furthermore, EFSA does not foresee monitoring possible health effects from these residues although required to do so by EU law, according to Testbiotech.