EFSA rejects Greece prohibition on GM maize MON 810

The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) has rejected the evidence submitted by Greece in support of its request for the prohibition of the placing on the market of the genetically modified maize MON 810 from Monsanto for cultivation. EFSA stated that based on the documentation submitted by Greece, no specific evidence in terms of risk to human and animal health or the environment would support the request. This outcome repeated itself, as in 2012 EFSA also did not support Greece’s notification to EU on the safeguard clause of MON 810.

EFSA found that all concerns on maize MON 810 related to safeguard clause raised by the Greek authorities were considered previously in the EFSA GMO Panel outputs on maize MON 810 or Bt maize events expressing the Cry1Ab protein, therefore the assessment remain valid.