The European Parliament adopted by 434 votes to 201, with 28 abstentions, a resolution objecting to the draft Commission implementing decision authorising the placing on the market of products containing, consisting of, or produced from genetically modified oilseed rapes MON 88302 × Ms8 x Rf3 and MON 88302 × Rf3 pursuant to Regulation (EC) No 1829/2003 of the European Parliament and of the Council on genetically modified food and feed.

On 3 December 2013, Monsanto Europe S.A. and Bayer CropScience N.V. submitted an application for the placing on the market of foods, food ingredients and feed containing, consisting of, or produced from genetically modified oilseed rape MON 88302 × Ms8 × Rf3 to the national competent authority of the Netherlands.

The three-event stack oilseed rape (OSR) was produced by conventional crossing to combine three single OSR events for tolerance to glufosinate-ammonium-containing herbicides.

While the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) adopted a favourable opinion, Member States submitted many critical comments during the three-month consultation period stressing that:

the presented data do not support a comprehensive and robust assessment of potential interactions between the single events incorporated into the GM OSR MON 88302 × Ms8 × Rf3; given the study batteries and designs, no final evidence is possible with reference to long-term (especially in regards to foodstuffs), reproductive or developmental effects; information (data and data analyses) provided on phenotypic evaluation, composition and toxicology is insufficient and that further studies should be carried out to prove the safety of OSR MON 88302 × Ms8 × Rf3.

Other areas of concern are: (i) the lack of a 90-day feeding study on rats; (ii) the lack of assessment of the residues of the complementary herbicides on imported food and feed; (iii) the potential adverse health consequences and gaps in the environmental monitoring plan.

Members also pointed out that there were still issues about the carcinogenic nature of glyphosate and that glufosinate is classified as toxic to reproduction.

In light of the above, Parliament considered that the Commission implementing decision is not consistent with Union law in that it is not compatible with the aim of Regulation (EC) No 1829/2003 which is to 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, while ensuring the effective functioning of the internal market.

Therefore, Parliament called on the Commission to withdraw its draft implementing decision .

On a procedural note , Members recalled that since the entry into force of the current authorisation procedure for GMOs, authorisation decisions have been adopted by the Commission without the support of the Standing Committee on the Food Chain and Animal Health.

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.

That practice has also been deplored by Commission President Juncker as not being democratic .

Parliament 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 so as to address the shortcomings of the current procedure.

It also called on the legislators responsible to advance work on the Commission proposal amending Regulation (EU) No 182/2011 to ensure that if no opinion is delivered by the Food Chain and Animal Health Standing Committee with respect to GMOs approvals, either for cultivation or for food and feed, the Commission will withdraw the proposal.

Parliament called on the Commission:

not to authorise any herbicide-tolerant genetically modified plants (HT GMP) made resistant to a combination of herbicides, as is the case with oilseed rape MON 88302 × Ms8 × Rf3, without a 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 request much more detailed testing to determine health risks relating to stacked events such as oilseed rape MON 88302 × Ms8 × Rf3; to develop strategies for health risk assessment , toxicology and 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 GMP, regardless of whether the genetically modified plant is for cultivation in the Union or for import for food and feed.