MEPs this week rejected a proposal to allow member states to decide for themselves whether or not to import and use EU-approved GMO products in food and animal feed. The European Parliament’s environmental committee voted by 47 to three to reject the European Commission’s proposal on technical grounds.

Some MEPs warned that the proposal would damage the single market and could see reintroduction of border controls between pro- and anti-GMO countries.

Many MEPS are broadly opposed to the use of GMO technology amid public suspicions that they carry a health risk.

Others warn that trade blocks elsewhere are pressing ahead with the technology, thereby placing the EU at a competitive disadvantage.

So far only one GM crop is cultivated in the EU, Monsanto’s MON810 GM maize. It has been bio-engineered to protect against harmful insect pests, for example the corn borer, and was approved for use in the European Union in 1998. Six member states have grown it: the Czech Republic, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Spain and Poland. However, Poland withdrew approval for the crop in 2013.

There are eight pending applications before the EU for GMO cultivation, including the renewal of the MON810 authorisation.

Meanwhile, 58 GMOs are authorised for import into the EU for food and feed uses.

Later this month there will be a vote by the full European Parliament on the latest proposal. The European Commission has suggested that if the proposal is rejected, then there will be no further moves to change the current legal framework.