BRUSSELS, Belgium — Bowing to pressure from Washington, the European Union lifted a six-year moratorium on new biotech foods Wednesday by allowing onto the EU market a modified strain of sweet corn, grown mainly in the United States.
But even the company that developed the insect-resistant corn, Swiss-based Syngenta, conceded it could take a lot longer for skeptical Europeans to start buying — and eating — it.
"Whether (genetically modified) foods will be accepted or not will depend on the European consumers," Syngenta spokesman Rainer von Mielecki said. "We understand and accept this."
The Bush administration, which accused the EU last year of violating international trade rules, welcomed the approval Wednesday but insisted its complaint at the World Trade Organization would go forward. The initial ruling is expected in September.
"The approval of a single product is not evidence that applications are moving routinely through the approval process in an objective, predictable manner based on science and EU law rather than political factors," said Richard Mills, spokesman for the U.S. trade representative in Washington.
But David Byrne, the EU's commissioner for health and consumer protection, insisted more approvals would follow, eventually undercutting the U.S. case, which was supported by Canada, Argentina and more than a dozen other countries.
Since the EU is no longer delaying application of its own laws, "that part of the complaint seems to me to be very difficult to make," Byrne said.
The EU's executive commission approved imports of Syngenta's Bt11 corn for human consumption after governments repeatedly deadlocked on the application, reflecting Europe's continuing ambivalence.
While European leaders have stressed the importance of the biotech industry as an engine for growth in the 21st century, they are reluctant to be seen as promoting genetically modified foods, which remain widely unpopular in Europe.
A series of food-related health scares in recent years, from mad cow disease to poisoned poultry, have stoked fears among many Europeans.
German and French officials said they still had reservations about safety but insisted the labeling rules meant consumers would have a choice.
The commission "was obviously under pressure," German Consumer Protection Minister Renate Kuenast said. "Now the consumers have to decide if they buy the corn or not."
Byrne said the Bt11 had undergone "the most rigorous pre-marketing assessment in the world. It has been scientifically assessed as being as safe as any conventional maize."
The corn — genetically modified to resist corn borer insect damage — would only be imported and not grown in Europe, although an application for cultivation is pending. Any fresh, frozen or canned biotech corn sold in stores would have to be labeled as such under "state of the art" rules that took effect last month.
"Labeling provides consumers with the information they need to make up their own mind," Byrne said. "Therefore it is only logical ... the so-called de facto moratorium is ended."
Syngenta first sought European approval for fresh, canned or frozen corn in 1999, three years after it was first cleared in the United States and Canada.
The approval Wednesday provoked sharp criticism from environmentalists, who accused the Brussels-based bureaucracy of being out of touch with the average European.
Noel Mamere, a leader of the French Green party, urged fellow opponents to turn to "civil disobedience" by tearing up test fields of any biotech crops.
"We have already done it, and we will start again," he told reporters.
Such opposition has already caused the biotech industry to retrench, especially in Europe.
Last week, U.S.-based Monsanto shelved plans to offer farmers its genetically modified spring wheat due to a lack of sufficient demand. A month earlier, Germany's Bayer Cropscience gave up attempts to grow genetically modified corn commercially in Britain.
Some industry groups, though, feel the tide may have turned.
CropLife International, representing the global "plant science" industry, noted Wednesday's EU approval came two days after the U.N. food agency issued a positive report on the prospects of using biotechnology to help the world's poor.
"The encouraging move in Europe should also give developing countries a greater level of security to adapt this technology," said Christian Verschueren, CropLife's director general.