At the moment, industry has been loosing millions because producers who use GM crops are restricted in exporting them to the European Union, because of an EU moratorium on the use of GM crops.

Following a complaint by the US in 2003, the World Trade Organisation (WTO) ruled that some European countries were breaking international trade rules by stopping the import of GM foods and crops.

The EU has still not complied with this ruling and its moratorium has reduced US exports of bulk commodities such as corn and soybeans into Europe.

And ASA - which represents some 22,000 growers - has added that there will be more and more GM soybeans on the market in the future. It said that there are likely to be 20 additional new varieties of GM soybeans in the next 10 years

"To avoid disruption of trade and resulting negative impacts on EU livestock production, the EU and Member States need to provide timely and science-based approval of these beans," ASA first vice president Johnny Dodson said.

Earlier this month, the US had agreed to temporarily suspend action against the EU's failure to bring its process inline with WTO.

"This is only a temporary suspension to allow the EU to demonstrate through action that it is making its system timely, and that decisions are being made on the basis of science, not politics," said Dodson.

The group says the EU process is at least a year behind the US. "It is an intolerable situation that must be rectified to allow trade to continue uninterrupted," the group said.

If the EU does not comply, ASA said this could lead to "massive retaliation on EU exports to the US markets."

GM trouble

At the moment, ASA said, Bayer's LibertyLink soybean (LLS) and Monsanto's Roundup RReady2Yield (RR2Y) have been fully approved for cultivation in the US, and have either been fully approved or in the final stages in Japan, Taiwan, Korea, and Mexico

But they are still going through the EU approval system, and while the US intends to use the crops next year, they may still not be approved for use in Europe.

"It is the EU process that is out of step with the rest of the world, and as such, does a disservice not only to the EU farm industry, but also to consumers who can scarcely be blamed for being confused when the EU's own scientists say a product is safe, but politicians hesitate over whether or not to agree with the scientific assessment," Dodson said.

Austria enforced a ban on the import and processing of Monsanto's MON810 and Bayer's T25 maize in June 1999.

The Commission has been debating whether to force the country to lift its restrictions since 2005, as Austria has never produced the necessary scientific evidence to contest the positive assessment of the products by Europe's food safety authorities.

At the moment, the only type of GM crop grown in the EU is maize, which was approved in 1998. It is not cultivated for human consumption but for animal feed.