On December 4, the European Commission authorized two GMO crops for use as food and feed; maize MON87427 and NK603xT25. According to the European Parliament\'s environment committee, the new GM maize variety NK603xT25 should not have been authorized since it is tolerant to both glufosinate- and glyphosate-based herbicides.

The clearance followed favourable scientific assessments by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA), which stated that glyphosate is unlikely to pose a carcinogenic threat to humans, and confined itself to proposing other toxicological safety thresholds during its review of the maximum residue levels for glyphosate in food.

Furthermore, the authorization of Monsanto-developed glyphosate-tolerant GM maize NK603xT25 disregarded the analysis of the International Agency for Research on Cancer – the specialized cancer agency of the World Health Organization – which on March 20, 2015, classified glyphosate as probably carcinogenic to humans.

Today, December 16, the EU Parliament supported in great majority the objection proposed by its environment committee to the decision of the EU Commission to authorize the new GM maize variety NK603xT25. This is not a binding decision but it underlines a strong political act.

Ursula Hudson, President of Slow Food Germany, was pleased by the result of the vote.

\"We at Slow Food hope that the Parliament’s political opposition will bring about the suspension of the authorization of the glyphosate resistant GM maize, NK603xT25. We hope it will succeed in suspending any authorizations for GM food and feed as long as the authorization procedure has not been improved. The Commission must bear in mind the concerns expressed by single states, civil society organizations and consumer movements. It\'s a matter of safety as well as of ensuring food sovereignty, the right of peoples to define their own food and agriculture systems,\" she said.