This article is from page 75 of the 2007-05-29 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 75 JPG
TRACES of the GM maize Herculex Rw, which is not authorized in the EU, has been detected in samples taken from animal feed imported from the United States according to the Department of Agriculture and Food.
This GM Herculex Rw maize va- riety is authorised in a number of countries including the US and an application for its approval in the EU has been made. The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) has evaluated the application as part of the EU authorisation process and has
recently given a favourable opinion.
The authority concluded that it is unlikely that the placing on the market of products consisting of, or produced from GM maize Herculex Rw will have adverse effects on hu- man or animal health or the environ- eeloale
The Food Safety Authority of Ire- land (FSAT) have been consulted and they agree with EFSA’s evaluation.
Some 6,000 tonnes of Corn Glu- ten Feed and 6,200 tonnes Distillers Dried Grain was discharged at Dub- lin port from a ship, the MV Pakrac, which went on to Rotterdam where it discharged the remainder of the ani-
mal feed cargo.
The cargo of animal feed was certi- fied as not containing GM Herculex Rw maize product. However, infor- mation was received from the Dutch authorities that official samples tak- en by them had tested positive. The Department immediately arranged for samples to be taken from the ani- mal feed off-loaded at Dublin Port and sent to the State Laboratory for analysis. The State Laboratory in- formed the department that the sam- ples submitted had tested positive for eloceilo.@ ays
When the department received the information on positive results
from the Dutch authorities they 1m- mediately put in place a restriction order on the 7,000 tonnes that still remained in portal stores.
In the meantime, steps have been taken to take out of circulation ma- terial that had left the portal stores. While some of the material has al- ready been incorporated into the an- imal feed chain, it 1s unlikely, based on the EFSA evaluation, to have any adverse effects on human or animal health or the environment.
The application for approval of GM maize Herculex Rw will be con- sidered at EU Standing Committee Meeting in Brussels on June 8.