The Irish Times

EU Regulations On Genetic Foods Criticised

Groups opposed to the introduction of genetically-modified (GM) foods to Europe have expressed outrage at a new labelling system adopted by the EU. They claimed that the system would allow most genetically-engineered products to escape labelling.

Genetic Concern, which opposes the introduction of GM crops to Ireland, said that the system was flawed and did not give consumers basic information. Its spokesman, Mr Quentin Gargan, said: "The EU has chosen not to seek segregation of (modified and non-modified) crops. In all honesty, you are not going to have a meaningful labelling system until you have segregation."

Greenpeace said that the EU system meant that "more than 90 per cent of GM food would escape labelling".

The EU formally adopted the new rules at a meeting of agriculture ministers. Final details have yet to be negotiated, but labelling of food containing GM maize and soya will be made mandatory through the use of DNA/protein-testing.

The European consumers' body, BEUC, said that the testing was insufficient and called for a certification system requiring manufacturers to declare whether their product contained GM ingredients.

European Commission proposals to allow manufacturers to use the term "may contain" in some cases were dropped. The rules apply initially to modified maize and soya, which is imported into the EU, mostly from the US, but they are expected to set a precedent for other "novel foods".

Ms Nuala Ahern, the Green Party MEP, accused the Commission of caving in to lobbying by the genetic industry. "These regulations are an outrageous infringement of the citizen's right to know. Derivatives of genetically-engineered crops will be exempt, while genetically-engineered additives, even if they are detectable, will be exempt."

Food would also be permitted to contain a minimum threshold of GM organisms, possibly up to 10 per cent, before being labelled. The labelling regime, Ms Ahern said, was the equivalent of a Trojan horse, "deliberately designed to force the consumer into eating tampered food, which some 85 per cent of the European population has stated they don't want".

Such decisions, she said, should be taken away from agriculture ministers. "We already know the close links between agri-business and the chemical/pharmaceutical companies."

Ms Ahern said that the decision had gone to the Agriculture Council only because a number of committees and councils had been unable to agree on the level of information which should be provided.