St. Louis, Missouri
October 25, 2007
Corn and corn products produced
from hybrids containing Herculex RW and two stacked traits,
YieldGard Plus with Roundup Ready 2 and Herculex I with Roundup
Ready 2, can now be exported to the European Union (EU), the
National Corn Growers Association (NCGA) notes. The three
biotech corn traits have received positive safety assessments
from the European Food Safety Authority and are now approved for
food and feed export into the 27 countries of the European
Union.
"We're pleased to see the European Union's regulatory system
make this move," said Martin Barbre, chairman of the The
National Corn Growers Association's Biotechnology Working
Group and a corn grower from Carmi, Ill. "These corn traits have
already been approved in the U.S., Japan and other major
markets. Now with EU approval growers will have greater market
access for their grain, and processors and ethanol plants can
continue to export Corn Gluten Feed and Distillers Dried
Grains."
In 2004, the European Union ended a six-year moratorium on new
biotech products with the adoption of stricter labeling
standards. "Although the approval process has resumed, there is
still a significant time lag between the approval processes in
the U.S. and the EU," said Barbre. U.S. corn growers have 23
commercially-available traits or combinations of traits, and
with these recent EU approvals, now 15 of them are cleared for
import into Europe.
As growers begin to make their hybrid selections for next year,
they must still be aware that not every trait or stack is
approved in the EU. The seed industry will continue to identify
hybrids from non-EU approved traits under the Market Choices™
label. In cooperation with the nation's leading seed companies,
the National Corn Growers Association has compiled "Know Before
You Grow," a database of the biotech corn traits currently
available. This database lists whether a corn trait is approved
in Japan and/or European Union- and allows growers to compare
commercial hybrids that contain those biotech traits. NCGA
developed and frequently updates this database is a tool to help
growers make informed decisions. For more information, visit
www.KnowBeforeYouGrow.com. |
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