John Dalli walks into a storm

European Commissioner John Dalli has come under heavy fire from the environment lobby and some member states after he lifted the EU's ban on the cultivation of genetically-modified potatoes known as Amflora.

Mr Dalli was accused of putting business before health concerns, which he denied.

Announcing his decision in a Brussels press conference, said that Amflora would be approved for starch production for the paper industry, although any by-products could be used as animal feed.

The crop has been developed by , a German chemicals firm.

Mr Dalli said the variety would be cultivated only by designated growers under contract to the starch industry and that it would be grown in a controlled environment to limit the possibility of genetic material from Amflora being transferred to other potato varieties. The measures would include physical separation and separate handling during harvesting, transporting and processing.

He pointed out that, because potatoes reproduce through propagation rather than through pollen-transfer, the risk of spreading the genetic material to other varieties was limited.

However, pro-environment lobby groups opposed to the cultivation of GM crops in the EU accused Mr Dalli of using the so-called written procedure to authorise the crop in order as to avoid a debate in the College of Commissioners.

Greenpeace said the genetically-engineered potato contained a gene that conferred resistance to certain antibiotics. It warned that the GM crop posed an unacceptable risk to human and animal health as well as to the environment.

"It is shocking that one of Commissioner Dalli's first acts is to authorise a GM crop that puts the environment and public health at risk," Marco Contiero, Greenpeace's agriculture director, said.

"In six years, the Commission has been unable to bury scientific evidence questioning the safety of this GM potato. Commissioner Dalli has now steam-rolled a decision through without even holding a debate with all commissioners. This is a cold-blooded approval that flies in the face of science, public opinion and EU law," he said.

Friends of the Earth also criticised the decision.

"This is a bad day for European citizens and the environment," it said.

According to the pro-environment lobby group, Amflora potato "carries a controversial antibiotic resistant gene which it cannot be guaranteed will not enter the food chain".

"The new commissioner, whose job is to protect consumers, has in one of his first decisions ignored public opinion and safety concerns to please the world's biggest chemical company," said Heike Moldenhauer, Friends of the Earth GMO spokesman.

The Greens in the European Parliament said they were "shocked."

Approval of the GMO potato "flies in the face of the 70 per cent of consumers who are against GM food as well as the anti-GM position of the European Parliament," said German Green MEP Martin Hausling.

EU officials said that some governments had also sounded their opposition to Mr Dalli's decision, some of them even making their criticism public.

"We are against the decision taken today by the European Commission," Italian Agriculture Minister Luca Zaia said.

Prior to yesterday's decision, only MON 810, a strain of genetically-modified maize made by Monsanto had been authorised for cultivation in Europe since 1998.

Defending his decision, Mr Dalli said all possible health and environmental risks had been assessed.

"Any delay in taking a decision now would have been unjustified," Mr Dalli said.

He pointed out that the initial application for approval for Amflora was made in 2003 and stressed that the European , which is responsible for giving scientific advice on the safety of food, had examined the issue of a marker gene for antibiotic resistance in the variety but found there was no threat to human health.

"This issue has been debated thoroughly. The arguments have been exhausted," the commissioner said.

BASF, on its website, said it was "delighted" by the decision "after waiting for more than 12 years," for EU approval. "We hope this decision is a milestone for further innovative products that will promote a competitive and sustainable agriculture in Europe," said board member Stefan Marcinowski.