Environmental risk assessment of import and processing of GM maize MON94804
- The present application (GMFF-2022-10651) concerns the authorisation for import and processing for use in food and feed of genetically modified (GM) maize MON94804;
- MON94804 will be used as a parental line to generate stacked events, but will not be commercialised as a single product;
- Maize MON94804 was produced by Agrobacterium-mediated transformation, and expresses a GA20ox_SUP suppression cassette, which down-regulates the expression of the ZmGA20ox3 and ZmGA20ox5 genes and results in reduced levels of the plant hormone gibberellic acid/gibberellin. As a consequence, MON94804 has a reduced plant height;
- In the Netherlands, feral maize populations have never been observed and the appearance of volunteers – maize not deliberately planted – is rare;
- In the Netherlands, the wild relative of maize, teosinte, is not present in the natural environment, hybridisation of GM maize with other species is therefore not possible;
- The molecular characterisation of maize MON94804 meets the criteria of COGEM, and no indications for potential environmental risks were identified;
- There are no indications that the introduced trait will allow GM maize MON94804 to survive in the Dutch environment;
- COGEM is of the opinion that import and processing of maize MON94804 poses a negligible risk to the environment in the Netherlands;
- COGEM abstains from giving advice on the potential risks of incidental consumption since other organisations carry out a food/feed assessment.