Stand by science on GMO foods, EU trade chief says

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - It's time for Europe to reassess its skepticism towards genetically modified (GMO) foods and trust scientists who have deemed them safe -- or risk more international lawsuits, the EU trade chief said on Thursday.

"Like any new science, biotechnology carries risks and those risks must be properly assessed and managed," European Union Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson said in prepared remarks.

"This process takes time, and those whose job it is to manage risk are right to be thorough."

"But it is also reasonable to insist that when the process has run its course, and the scientific issues have been thrashed out, we stand by the science. And that applies to both the technical experts and to the politicians they report to."

European Union governments have repeatedly clashed over authorizing new GMO products and have not done so since 1998.

However, since 2004, there has been a trickle of new approvals under a legal default process -- rubber stamps by the European Commission, the EU executive -- that kicks in when the bloc's member states fail to agree after a certain time.

That situation has angered major GMO food exporters such as the United States, which together with Argentina and Canada, challenged EU biotech policy at the World Trade Organisation.

The WTO found that the EU's effective moratorium on new GMO imports constituted "undue delay" and violated trade rules.

In remarks to representatives of the European biotech industry, Mandelson said EU policies would be watched closely by its trading partners, which were moving ahead with their own GMO policies -- and leaving Europe trailing behind.