After Austria, Hungary, Greece and France, also the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg decided to ban the cultivation of Monsanto's GM maize MON810, the only one allowed for 10 years in the European Union.

As this year the authorization is expiring, European partners are waiting for the new scientific evaluation in the next few months. For this reason, EU ministers for environment on March 2 rejected Brussels' proposal to repeal national prohibition in Austria and Hungary.

In Luxembourg the provisional national prohibition is based on recent studies that "don't allow to conclude that MON810 is completely innocuous". Furthermore, there are "scientific, environmental and political reasons", as 83% of Luxembourg people are against GMOs, according to a recent survey.

The decree underlines that "the active toxine CRY1AB, produced by MON810 maize, is susceptible to have effects on non-targeted organisms, and that this situation doesn't allow to conclude that this type of maize is not dangerous for the environment".

Source: Newsfood.com