Imports of BT10, a form of genetically modified (GM) maize made by Swiss biotechnology company Syngenta, have been found in some European countries despite the fact that BT10 is unauthorised within the EU.

The European Commission is now requesting in-depth information from Syngenta and the US authorities on how up to ten kilos of BT10 seeds may have been exported inadvertently as BT11 for research purposes to France and Spain.

BT11 was approved by the EU in 1998 for use in industrial processing, mainly for animal feed. BT10, however, contains a gene making it resistant to an important group of antibiotics, which BT11 does not have, and has still to win approval from the EU.

Although all the unauthorised material has been destroyed, the commission is concerned that an estimated 1,000 tonnes of BT10 food and feed products may have entered the EU through the BT11 export channels since 2001.

Syngenta admitted last month that it had accidentally sold to the US genetically modified maize that had not been approved by US authorities. It has not been granted authorisation due to the fact that the essential protein of its BT10 maize variety is identical to its BT11 line.

The Commission has asked the US to supply it with a full risk assessment of BT10 and the quantities it believes have been exported to the EU. The Commission has also asked Syngenta to provide full details of the molecular characterisation of Bt10 and its distinction from Bt11. The company has also been requested to confirm that all Bt10 plantings and seed stocks in the US have been destroyed or isolated for further destruction.

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