Honey Made Close to Modified Crops May Need Regulatory Approval
Stephanie Bodoni
Bloomberg, Feb 9 2011
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-02-09/honey-made-close-to-gm-crops-needs-approval-eu-court-aide-says.html

Beekeepers with hives close to fields cultivating genetically modified crops can't sell honey in the European Union without regulatory approval, an adviser to the EU's highest court said.

The unintentional presence in honey "even of a minute quantity of pollen" from a type of genetically modified maize made by Monsanto Co., the world's largest seed company, means that the honey needs an authorization before being sold in the market, Advocate General Yves Bot of the European Court of Justice said in a non-binding opinion today.

"Food containing material from a genetically modified plant, whether that material is included intentionally or not, must always be regarded as food produced" from modified plants, said Bot. The Luxembourg-based EU tribunal follows such advice most of the time. Rulings normally follow within six months of an opinion.

EU rules require authorization for putting any products that are genetically modified on the market. The EU's 27 nations are split over the safety of food produced from genetically- modified crops. This is slowing EU permission to grow them and has prompted complaints by the U.S. and other trade partners.

In 1998, Monsanto received EU permission to cultivate its MON 810 maize and the various products derived from the strain, such as maize flour, starch and oil. The German State of Bavaria has a number of fields where the crop is grown for research.

Karl Heinz Bablok, one of a group of beekeepers that brought today's case, detected traces of the GM crop in his honey and in the pollen he harvested from a field a few hundred meters behind his beehives. The beekeepers seek Bavaria's support in prohibiting more planting of such crops close to their hives or protecting their bees from getting into contact with the crops.

A German court sought the EU tribunal's guidance on whether honey that may include pollen from the crops falls into the category of food that needs approval under EU law before sale.

The case is C-442/09, Bablok and Others.

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