Europeans have no problems with Bt. The pesticide, in fact, is a natural substance that organic farmers use widely. The European objection stems from designing corn genes to contain Bt. Gerber and Heinz have both moved to different producers so they can assure their European customers that they don't rely on genetically engineered corn or soybeans. This is huge over there.
Studies have yet to unearth any danger in consuming genetically modified plants.
Critics, in fact, worry primarily that the long-term effects of consuming genetically modified foods are unknown. With Monsanto's Roundup Ready corn and soybeans, for instance, someone who once needed to spray several times a season to kill weeds needs to do so only once. And, unlike traces of the long-popular atrazine that still is found in soil on every farm in Kansas, the Roundup herbicide disappears days after application. Bill Beavis, a geneticist who has spent most of his career working on agricultural problems, argues that boosting the yields on Kansas and Missouri farms reduces pressure to level dwindling forests in the rest of the world. Still, he admits to sharing the worries of Europeans about the health effects of genetically engineered crops and the risks of introducing man-made species into the environment.