Greens hail an environmental victory for biodiversity as Belgium rejects Bayer application and urges all member states to follow suit.

Genetically modified oilseed rape crops may be barred throughout the EU for many years after Belgium's rejection yesterday of a union-wide application by the German company Bayer CropScience.

The Belgian government will call on other EU countries to follow suit. They are likely to do so, although, in theory, the application can be reopened by any country.

Despite heavy lobbying by biotech companies, Belgian ministers followed the advice of their bio-safety advisers, which drew heavily on several years of evidence from GM crop trials in Britain.

This showed, broadly, that herbicide-tolerant GM oilseed rape reduces biodiversity.

The British scientists found that bees and butterflies were less abundant in the GM oilseed rape crops than in non-GM crops, because of the lack of weeds and wild plants. There were also substantially fewer weed seeds present.

Weed seeds are an important source of food for small mammals and birds, particularly during the winter.

A spokesman for Bayer CropScience Belgium, Henk Joos, said: "We have serious concerns about the way the Belgian government handled this. We believe the decision was highly influenced by Belgian politics.

"The experts raised some concerns but indicated that with proper controls it would be possible to cultivate this crop without impacting on the environment."

Although the decision applies to only one variety of herbicide-tolerant GM rape, European green groups said it set an important precedent which would make it hard to justify the commercial production of any similar rape crop in Europe.

Karen Simal, Greenpeace Belgium's GM campaigner said: "This is a slap in the face of the biotech industry and a victory for the environment.

"The Belgian government has acknowledged that growing GM oilseed rape is harmful to the environment."

The decision was softened, however, by the Belgian government's decision to let GM oilseed rape be imported and processed.

A health ministry spokesman, Karim Ibourki, said the imported rape would be used for fuel, not for human or animal consumption.

Arian Bebb, GM campaigner for Friends of the Earth Europe, said: "GM oilseed rape will harm the environment and contaminate non-GM agriculture, whether it is grown in the EU or elsewhere in the world.

"It is inconsistent to ban the cultivation yet allow it for import."

European countries will have to rule on many applications from GM companies this year.

Bayer CropScience has two applications for similar GM oilseed rape varieties before the German government, and Belgium and Denmark must soon rule on whether to allow GM sugar and fodder beet to be grown.

Meanwhile there is a host of applications before EU countries from various GM companies to grow different varieties of GM maize.

"The Belgian decision is very significant," said Sue Mayer of the British group Genewatch.

"Bayer should withdraw all its remaining applications to grow GM oilseed rape in Europe as the tide of scientific and public opinion is clearly against them.

"This is another body blow to the biotech industry."