EU delays decision on approving GM crops: greens

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The European Commission, the EU's executive arm, has delayed a decision on whether farmers may grow more genetically modified crops on the grounds more scientific analysis was needed, green groups said on Wednesday.

The European Food Safety Authority will be asked for further assessment of the risk of growing two GM maize crops, and also a potato modified to produce extra starch, they said.

That move is likely to put off any EU approval of the three biotech crops for several more months.

No one at the Commission was available for comment.

"Today's European Commission decision to send three controversial genetically modified crops back to its food safety agency is a huge vote of no confidence in the EU's approval system," environment groups Greenpeace and Friends of the Earth Europe said in a joint statement.

(Reporting by Jeremy Smith)