EU unveils GMO traceability and labelling rules - Government Activity

Eurofood, August 2, 2001

New proposals for the labelling and traceability of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) were unveiled by the European Commission this week, ending months of delay and speculation.

Under the new rules, GMOs would have to be identified `from the farm to the fork' via a paper chain but, controversially, so too would products derived from GM technology but free from GM material. The proposals provoked an outcry from the US, the dominant force in GM production.

Two separate but interlocking `regulations' were put forward, the first on traceability and labelling by environment Commissioner Margot Wallstrom, and the second on GM food and feed by health Commissioner David Byrne.

GMOS "WON'T GO AWAY"

"GMOs are a reality on today's market that we simply cannot ignore," said Wallstrom, who bemoaned the tiny contribution (0.03%) to the global market in GM products grown in the EU. She expressed the hope that her proposals will encourage EU states to remove their de facto moratorium on approvals of new GMOs, which were triggered largely as a result of traceability concerns.

The five EU countries most fervently opposed to GMOs (France, Italy, Denmark, Greece and Luxembourg) had promised to reconsider their stance once legislation on labelling and traceability is on the table.

However, actual adoption of the new laws by the European Parliament and national ministers could take eighteen months, by the Commissioner's own admission.

EU countries and companies would have responsibility for enforcement of the rules, and in the case of imports, third country exporters would have to ensure segregation of their product into batches containing specific GMOs.

The labelling of food and animal feed products made from GMOs would also extend to those derived from genetic modification, but containing no detectable trace of a GMO.

1% CONTAMINATION THRESHOLD

On the emotive subject of `genetic pollution', the Commissioners have proposed a tolerable limit of 1% of `accidental' GM material in both food and feed, applicable only if the material in question has been given a positive assessment (but not necessarily formal approval) by an EU scientific committee.

The 1% threshold was roundly condemned by environmentalist groups including Friends of the Earth and Greenpeace. A spokesman for Greenpeace described the limit as a "dangerous loophole," while Friends of the Earth said it was "giving biotech companies licence to pollute."

Conversely, the European Consumer's Organisation, BEUC, welcomed the proposal. "These proposals move a long way toward giving consumers the possibility, previously denied to them, to choose whether or not to eat food [...] derived from GMOs," said Willemien Bax, BEUC deputy director.

ANGRY US REACTION

US grain industry leaders lambasted the Commission traceability proposals, saying they were unworkable, smacked of a trade barrier, and would lead to higher prices.

The Bush administration also weighed in to the debate, backing its growers and accusing the EU of protectionism.