A team of EU experts is to decide whether to authorize the consumption of a GM rice type grown employing a weed killer which is toxic for reproduction and is being banned in the EU from 2017.

EFSA expressed its approval, and starting from this premise the European Commission asked the experts of the Standing Committee for Food Chain and Animals' Health - that will meet in Brussels on April 20 - to authorize sales of Bayer's LL62 GM rice to be eaten (but not cultivated).

According to APCOM, this would be the first EU authorization to a GMO directly destined to human consumption and not to be fodder for livestock, like the several GM maize types allowed until now. LL62 rice type has been modified with a gene that makes the plant tolerant to glufosinate weed-killer produced by Bayer under the brands "Basta" and "Libery" (LL stands for Liberty Link). The genetic modification allows farmers to spread the weed-killer on rice cultivations, thus destroying all infesting plants without affecting the rice itself. IN 2007 glufosinate has been re-allowed in the EU for 10 years, according to pesticide regulations at that time.

EFSA, however, in 2007 gave its technical "all clear" to LL62 rice, though in 2005 its opinion was quite alarming about this herbicide's toxicity for reproduction, concluding that there were "high risks" for mammals in case of swallowing, "acute risk" for children, and - in few cases - also for farmers who have been exposed for too long. Precisely for this "repro-toxicity", indeed, glufosinate is to be banned in EU from 2017 (the authorization won't be renewed anymore), according to what is provided by the "black list" in the new EU regulation on pesticide, voted by the European Parliament last January.