The new report by the EU's advisory Scientific Committee for Plants is likely to increase the pressure on the Union from the biotechnology industry to approve new strains of so-called Bt-maize, developed to be resistant to the corn borer pest.

The European Commission had asked the committee to investigate whether evidence submitted by Austria threw into doubt an earlier decision to approve a Bt-maize variety developed by Monsanto Co and, by extension, two other Bt-maize plants marketed by Novartis AG. Austria has a unilateral ban on the products, citing potential health and environmental risks. Its domestic ban will also now be called into question, EU officials said.

Austria banned the Novartis maize in December 1996, and the Monsanto maize, known as Bt-Maize MON-810, on May 27, 1999. It has sent the evidence to the commission in June this year.

No new significant information

"The scientific committee concludes that the information submitted by Austria does not constitute new significant information that was not already considered in its original risk assessment," said a committee report published on the Net.

The 15-member EU has not approved any new GM crops since April 1998 as consumer concerns grow about the safety of foods derived from crops modified by biotechnology.

In May, the Commission, the EU's executive, announced it would freeze the approval procedure for another Bt-maize developed by Pioneer Hi-Bred International Inc following a scientific study showing that pollen from Bt-maize could kill butterflies under laboratory conditions.

The Commission warned at the time that similar products developed by Monsanto and Novartis already in use in Europe could be affected if EU scientists concluded they threatened the environment. The committee looked at the Austrian evidence and the results of the Pioneer study.

"The committee concluded that it is not possible to extrapolate the results of this initial laboratory study to the field situation," the report said.EU governments face key decisions in the next 10 days over whether to approve three new genetically modified crops and how to label foods derived from them.

The Commission has asked EU states to rule on a new fodder beet developed by Monsanto, plus two new strains of rapeseed from AgrEvo-a joint venture between Hoechst AG and Schering AG-and Plant Genetic Systems, which is part of AgrEvo.

Resistance in Europe to biotechnology has raised the threat of a new transatlantic trade conflict. The United States is angered that it has been blocked from exporting bulk commodities to Europe because some GM crops are not approved for use there.