A COURT IN Cologne has granted Greenpeace access to a 1,139-page study by the biotechnology company Monsanto, the Independent on Sunday reports.

Information from the study has raised fears that a GM corn might be harmful to human health.

The study found that fats fed the GM corn had smaller kidneys and raised levels of white blood cells and lymphodcytes compared with rats fed a non-GM corn.

Monsanto initially handed the study over to the EU regulatory authorities with the proviso that it be kept confidential on the grounds that it contained infomration which could be of commercial use to the company’s competitors.

Environmental groups, however, have been working to have the report released in full, and a German court has now agreed that the study should be made public. Monsanto appealed, according to the newspaper.

It is expected that the maize will be approved for human consumption in Europe later this year.

Professor Gilles-Eric Seralini of the University of Caen, who scrutinises the safety of GM products for the European Commission and French government, has described the findings in the Monsanto study as “very worrying”, the Independent on Sunday reports.