The European Parliament adopted by 458 votes to 193 with 36 abstentions a resolution tabled by the Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety objecting to the draft Commission implementing decision authorising the placing on the market of products containing, consisting of, or produced from genetically modified soybean DAS-44406-6, pursuant to Regulation (EC) No 1829/2003 of the European Parliament and of the Council on genetically modified food and feed,

On 16 February 2012 Dow Agrosciences LLC and MS Technologies LLC submitted an application for the placing on the market of foods, food ingredients and feed containing genetically modified soybean DAS-44406-6 to the national competent authority of the Netherlands, in accordance with Regulation (EC) No 1829/2003 on genetically modified food and feed.

Whilst the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) adopted a favourable opinion, Member States submitted numerous critical comments during the three-month consultation period, centring on the observations that:

the application and the risk assessment data did not provide sufficient information to exclude adverse effects on humans and animals unambiguously, information on phenotypic evaluation, composition and toxicology was insufficient, it further analysis was needed to evaluate the concentration of glyphosate, 2,4-D, glufosinate and their degradation products in seeds and forage intended for food and feed purposes in order to exclude any potential adverse effect on human and animal health.

Parliament considered that the draft Commission implementing decision exceeds the implementing powers provided for in Regulation (EC) No 1829/2003 , and called on the Commission to withdraw its draft implementing decision . It cited several concerns , particularly the risks as regards carcinogenicity, birth defects and endocrine disruption and toxicity to reproduction.

On a procedural level, Parliament also noted that the vote of the Standing Committee on the Food Chain and Animal Health delivered no opinion , but 14 Member States voted against, while only 12 Member States – representing just 38.48 % of the Union population – voted in favour, with two Member States abstaining.

Under these circumstances, Parliament considered that the draft Commission implementing decision was not consistent with Union law in that it did not provide the basis for ensuring a high level of protection of human life and health, animal health and welfare, the environment and consumer interests in relation to genetically modified food and feed.

It asked the Commission to suspend any implementing decision regarding applications for authorisation of genetically modified organisms until the authorisation procedure has been revised in such a way as to address the shortcomings of the current procedure, which has proven inadequate. In this respect, Members noted that the Commission has deplored the fact that since the entry into force of Regulation (EC) No 1829/2003 it has had to adopt authorisation decisions without the support of the Standing Committee on the Food Chain and Animal Health, and that the return of the dossier to the Commission for final decision, which is very much the exception for the procedure as a whole, has become the norm for decision-making on genetically modified food and feed authorisations. This practice has also been deplored by President Juncker as not being democratic.

Parliament called on the Commission:

not to authorise any herbicide-tolerant genetically modified plants (HT GMP) or any HT GMP made resistant to a combination of herbicides , as is the case with soybean DAS-44406-6, without full assessment of the specific cumulative effects of the residues from spraying with the combination of the complementary herbicides and its commercial formulations as applied in the countries of cultivation; to develop strategies for health risk assessment and toxicology , as well as post-market monitoring, that target the whole food and feed chain; to fully integrate the risk assessment of the application of the complementary herbicides and their residues into the risk assessment of HT GMPs, regardless of whether the genetically modified plant is for cultivation in the Union or for import for food and feed.