Europe Allows Sale of Genetically Modified Corn

Despite reservations on the part of many of the member states, the European Commission has announced it will allow the sale of Bt-11 sweet corn, thereby ending a six-year moratorium on the import of genetically modified (GM) food products. The ruling will allow the import of Bt-11 corn already canned and ready for the supermarket shelf. Members of the European Union (EU) will not be allowed to cultivate Bt-11 sweet corn.

Bt-11 sweet corn was developed by Syngenta (Basel, Switzerland). Normal maize (Zea mays) was modified by the insertion of a gene from the bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis that produces the Bt protein Cry1Ab. When eaten by the European corn borer or corn earworm, two important sweet corn pests, digestive enzymes in the alkaline environment of the larva's intestine metabolize Cry1Ab, yielding a shorter protein that binds to the wall of the intestine. Following binding, pores are formed that disrupt midgut ion flow, causing gut paralysis and eventual death from bacterial sepsis. Cry1Ab is lethal only when eaten by the larvae of lepidopteran insects (moths and butterflies), and its specificity of action is directly attributable to the presence of specific binding sites in the target insects. There are no binding sites for the delta-endotoxins of B thuringiensis on the surface of mammalian intestinal cells. Therefore, livestock animals and humans are not susceptible to these proteins.

The safety of Bt-11 sweet corn for use as a food has been demonstrated by digestibility studies, toxicity studies, and allergenicity studies. The composition and nutritional value of Bt-11 has been shown to be comparable or substantially equivalent to non-Bt sweet corn. Objection to the use of GM corn is based primarily on anecdotal reports such as those of livestock dying of "mysterious” illnesses after having been fed genetically modified maize. Other concerns center on the genetic stability of the modified plants and on the activity of the Bt genes as they move up the food chain.

While the World Health Organization (WHO, Geneva, Switzerland) is strongly promoting GM foods as the key to preventing food shortages in the coming decades, the success of GM foods in Europe will largely be determined by the willingness of consumers to buy them.




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