Resolution on the draft Commission implementing decision authorising the placing on the market of products containing, consisting of or produced from genetically modified soybean MON 94637 pursuant to Regulation (EC) No 1829/2003 of the European Parliament and of the Council

The European Parliament adopted by 412 votes to 145, with 11 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 soybean MON 94637 pursuant to Regulation (EC) No 1829/2003 of the European Parliament and of the Council.

On 1 July 2025, EFSA adopted a favourable opinion concluding that the GM soybean is as safe as its conventional counterpart and tested non-GM soybean varieties with respect to potential effects on human and animal health and the environment.

EFSA concluded that consumption of food and feed from the GM soybean does not represent a nutritional concern, and that accidental environmental exposure would not raise safety concerns. It further concluded that the molecular characterisation and bioinformatic analyses did not identify issues requiring additional food or feed safety assessment and that no post-market monitoring of food or feed was considered necessary.

Despite EFSA’s favourable assessment, scientific literature indicates that the newly designed chimeric Bt toxins Cry1A.2 and Cry1B.2 exhibit substantially enhanced insecticidal activity compared to their parental toxins, raising specific safety questions that have not been sufficiently addressed.

The molecular characterisation of the GM soybean remains incomplete, as unintended genomic alterations and newly created open reading frames were not thoroughly investigated using the most advanced sequencing and ‘omics’ approaches.

Lack of evaluation

Parliament has repeatedly stressed that the Commission should not authorise GMOs in cases where no qualified majority is reached by Member States in the Standing Committee on Plants, Animals, Food and Feed or the Appeal Committee, in order to address the persistent democratic deficit. Despite its own acknowledgement of the democratic shortcomings, the lack of support from Member States and the objections of Parliament, the Commission continues to authorise GMOs.

Recommendations

In light of these considerations, Parliament concluded that the Commission's implementing decision exceeded the implementing powers provided for in Regulation (EC) No 1829/2003 and was not in conformity with European Union law. Consequently, it called on the Commission to:

- withdraw its draft implementing decision;

- not authorise the GM soybean due to the lack of sufficient evidence on long-term impacts on biodiversity, food safety, farmers’ livelihoods and animal health, in line with the One Health approach;

- submit, without delay, a legislative proposal to reform the decision-making procedure on GMOs in order to respond to the consistent objections of Parliament and the lack of qualified majority support among Member States;

- take into account the Union's obligations under international agreements, such as the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.