The EU has postponed a decision on whether to approve a type of genetically modified sweetcorn bred by Syngenta until next month.

The sweetcorn would be the first GM product approved for five years in Europe and any decision in the affirmative would effectively mean a lifting of the moratorium on new GM products that was enforced in 1998.

The moratorium has become the centre of a fractious dispute between the EU and US, which has led the US to lodge an official challenge with the World Trade Organisation.

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