EU postpones vote on new genetically modified crops

   EU: August 10, 1999

   BRUSSELS - The European Commission has postponed a meeting set for
   today, which was due to vote on whether to approve three new
   genetically modified organisms, a Commission spokesman said yesterdat.

   Representatives from the 15 European Union governments had been due to
   decide whether to license a new GM fodder beet developed by Monsanto
   Co , plus two new strains of rapeseed developed by Agrevo - a joint
   venture between Hoechst AG and Schering AG .

   The meeting will now not take place until next month, after a number
   of countries asked for a delay, a Commission spokesman told Reuters.
   He declined to say which countries had asked for the postponement.

   The Commission put forward the applications for a vote last month,
   just three weeks after EU environment ministers backed a temporary
   halt to GMO approvals, against a background of growing public concern
   about the safety of foods derived from GM crops.

   The Commission, the EU's executive, said it was merely carrying out
   its legal duty to process applications and did not expect governments
   to give the products their blessing.

   New approvals in the EU are unlikely until a new authorisation system
   has been agreed, which could take months or even years, EU officials
   said.

   A spokesman for environmental group Friends of the Earth welcomed the
   delay.

   "This proves once and for all that the EU's system for approving GMOs
   has broken down irreparably," he said.

   The depth of public anxiety has been underlined by recent attacks on
   British farms involved in trials of GM crops.

   REUTERS NEWS SERVICE