BASF wants the EU Commisioner to approve its GM potato without any further delay Photo: BASF

BASF has called upon the EU Commissioner Stavros Dimas to approve genetically modified potato Amflora for commercial cultivation in Europe in an open letter. The company has asked him to do this without ‘any further delay’.  Since the vote in the council of Agricultural Minister in July 2007, the decision to approve Amflora has been pending with Commissioner Dimas.

“Even though all the steps in the EU approval process have been taken successfully, Mr Dimas failed to grant approval,” said Dr Stefan Marcinowski, member of the board of executive directors of BASF. He called it “an important future technology that offers benefits to farmers and the starch industry in Europe. He said that the safety of Amflora has “been confirmed repeatedly by the EFSA (European Food Safety Authority).”

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BASF representatives met with Commissioner Dimas on April 15th in Brussels, but the meeting yielded no results. Representatives from the Commission were unable to produce new scientific findings that would hinder Amflora approval for commercial cultivation in Europe. 

Leading starch producers have indicated that amylopectin potatoes like Amflora represent annual value-added turnover of approximately €100 million ($156 million) for Europe’s starch industry and farmers.

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