Until the 1990s, Europe's regulation was less strict than in the U.S. In 1998, the use of MON810, a Bt expressing maize conferring resistance to the European corn borer, was approved for commercial cultivation in Europe. However, in the 1990s a series of unrelated food crises created consumer apprehension about food safety in general and eroded public trust in government oversight. A bovine spongiform encephalopathy outbreak was the most publicized. In 1998, a "de facto" moratorium led to the suspension of approvals of new GMOs in the EU pending the adoption of revised rules.