The Hungarian government has come under pressure from the European Food Safety Authority to lift a national ban on cultivating a European Union approved GM maize (MON 810).


EFSA’s scientific panel on GM organisms has concluded there is “no new scientific evidence, in terms of risk to human health and the environment” that could justify ignoring the 1990 decision to allow the cultivation of the maize across the EU.


Hungary had invoked a special safeguard clause to block attempts to grow MON 810 in its territory, the latest in a series of national restrictions on GM products that defy previous EU-wide authorisations.