BASF calls for EU approval of biotech "hot potato"

By Jeremy Smith

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - German chemicals group BASF aims to secure European Union approval in the next few weeks for farmers to grow its genetically modified (GMO) potato in April, the first EU approval for GMO cultivation in a decade.

EU governments have not managed to agree on biotech foods and crops for many years and repeatedly clash on the issue. No new GMO crop has received an approval for growing since 1998.

The European Commission -- the EU's executive arm -- has authorized a series of GMO products for import since 2004, but only thanks to a legal procedure that gives it the legal power to issue a rubberstamp approval when EU states fail to agree.

GMO cultivation is far more controversial and the EU now stands on the brink of approving BASF's potato for growing, by that same legal procedure. The problem is, the EU's environment chief, in charge of the dossier, seems unwilling to approve it.

For BASF, that rubberstamp approval must come quickly if farmers are to be able to plant its potato for the 2008 harvest.

Normally, the Commission acts fairly quickly in such cases. But the company has been waiting since July, when EU ministers failed to agree either to approve or reject its application.

"We still look forward to approval next year in time for commercial cultivation," Hans Kast, president and CEO of BASF Plant Science, told reporters in Brussels on Tuesday.

"April is the time when we need to get it into the ground. Our farmers need to make up their minds soon after Christmas," he said. Potatoes are usually harvested in Europe in September or October.