Stephanie Bodoni - Honey Made Close to Modified Crops May Need Regulatory Approval
April 3, 2012 Beekeepers with hives close to fields cultivating genetically modified crops can't sell honey in the European Union without regulatory approval, an adviser to the EU's highest court said.
The unintentional presence in honey "even of a minute quantity of pollen" from a type of genetically modified maize made by Monsanto Co., the world's largest seed company, means that the honey needs an authorization before being sold in the market, Advocate General Yves Bot of the European Court of Justice said in a non-binding opinion today.
"Food containing material from a genetically modified plant, whether that material is included intentionally or not, must always be regarded as food produced" from modified plants, said Bot. The Luxembourg-based EU tribunal follows such advice most of the time. Rulings normally follow within six months of an opinion.
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