Objection pursuant to Rule 115(2) and (3): Genetically modified soybean MON 94313

The European Parliament adopted by 457 votes to 184, with 10 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 94313 pursuant to Regulation (EC) No 1829/2003 of the European Parliament and of the Council.

On 16 September 2022, Bayer Agriculture BV, based in Belgium, on behalf of Bayer CropScience LP, based in the United States, submitted an application to the national competent authority of the Netherlands for the placing on the market of foods, food ingredients and feed containing, consisting of or produced from genetically modified soybean MON 94313 (the ‘GM soybean’).

On 21 January 2026, EFSA issued a favourable scientific opinion on the GM soybean. It concluded that the GM soybean, as described in the application, is as safe as its conventional counterpart and the tested non-genetically modified soybean reference varieties with respect to the potential effects on human and animal health and the environment. The opinion did not address several broader environmental, socioeconomic, and cumulative impacts which EFSA considers to fall outside its remit.

Gaps in the assessment

The risk assessments carried out by EFSA did not include long-term toxicological studies or detailed analysis of cumulative and combinatorial effects, including potential interactions with residues of pesticides commonly used in soybean cultivation. The vast majority of GM crops, including the GM soybean, have been genetically modified so that they are tolerant to one or more ‘complementary’ herbicides which can be used throughout the cultivation of the GM crop, without the crop dying, as would be the case for a non-herbicide tolerant crop. A number of studies show that herbicide-tolerant GM crops result in a higher use of complementary herbicides, in large part because of the emergence of herbicide-tolerant weeds.

Herbicide-tolerant GM crops lock farmers into a weed management system that is largely or wholly dependent on herbicides, and does so by charging a premium for GM seeds while creating a dependency on the use of complementary herbicides as an integral part of the production system.

Moreover, assessment of herbicide residues and metabolites found on GM plants is considered outside the remit of the EFSA Panel on Genetically Modified Organisms and is therefore not undertaken as part of the authorisation process for GMOs. This is problematic because the way in which complementary herbicides are broken down by the GM plant concerned, as well as the composition and thus the toxicity of the metabolites can be impacted by the genetic modification itself. The draft Commission implementing decision would continue to allow imports into the Union that do not comply with the standards observed by Union farmers, thereby placing them at a competitive disadvantage.

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 Paris Climate Agreement, the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity and the UN Sustainable Development Goals.