Commission says US GM soybeans pose no risk
The European Commission has said it has no scientific evidence that a brand of genetically modified soybeans - which environmental group Greenpeace wants banned - pose a health risk. Belgian scientists have found unidentified gene fragments in Roundup Ready soybeans, grown from seeds developed by biotechnology company Monsanto. The beans are spliced with bacterium which makes them resistant to Roundup herbicide. A Commission spokesperson told a news briefing that although the results of the Belgian study would undergo a routine evaluation by the Commission's scientific committee on plants, any further action would depend on the committee's findings. She said: 'From a scientific point of view there is no reason to say the plant is unsafe...or for those who eat it.' She explained: 'Scientifically the existence of this DNA does not mean it is a consequence of modification in the plant. It could have been generated by a spontaneous mutation, which often happens in plants.' She added that the gene fragments had not been detected when the Commission approved the import, but not planting, of the Roundup soybeans in 1996. On Friday, Greenpeace called on France to ban imports of the soybeans, saying they had been authorised for use as human food and animal feed on an 'incomplete and false' basis. The Commission spokesperson said that the findings did not suggest an import ban was needed, adding that France was unlikely to take such action as it would first have to prove the soybeans posed a safety risk.