GM labelling plan goes to seed following Commission divisions

By David Cronin

Date: 09/09/04

A MOVE to label genetically modified seeds was shelved by the European Commission yesterday (8 September).

The postponement followed sharp divisions between two sets of commissioners. Margot Wallström (environment) and Franz Fischler (agriculture) had both recommended that oilseed rape and maize should carry special labels if 0.3% of their DNA is genetically modified. Their proposal was designed for situations where conventional crops are contaminated by the accidental presence of GM seed. But David Byrne (food safety), Pascal Lamy (trade) and Philippe Busquin (research) said the 0.3% threshold would be too costly for industry, favouring a 0.5% level.

Commission spokesman Reijo Kemppinen confirmed that there were "diverging views" within the EU executive on the issue. "There is a widely shared belief that the information available to us on the economic impact [of the proposal] was not detailed enough," he said.

Promising further assessment on the economic impact, he said it was unlikely that the Commission would take a decision on the proposal before Romano Prodi hands over to the institution's new president, José Manuel Barroso, on 1 November. Kemppinen denied that the outgoing Commission was shying away from taking such a controversial decision.

Anti-GM campaigners applauded the postponement.

"There is massive public opposition across Europe to GM crops and the last thing the outgoing Commission should have done was rush through unacceptable legislation," said Jill Evans, an MEP with Welsh nationalist party Plaid Cymru.

The campaigners have been encouraged by the nomination of Mariann Fischer Boel as the new agriculture commissioner as she has shown anti-biotechnology leanings.

In her native Denmark, she succeeded in placing a law requiring a GM seed labelling threshold of 0.1%, the lowest detectable level, on the statute books.

But the biotechnology industry voiced unease at the postponement.

"It is regrettable that, once again, the Commission has chosen to ignore its responsibility to establish a common European legal basis for the setting of thresholds for trace levels of GM seed in conventional seed," said Simon Barber from pro-GM lobby EuropaBio.

In a separate development, the Commission proposed authorizing the importation of a GM oilseed rape called GT73. The Council of Ministers now has three months to decide whether to accept or reject the proposal.

Due to internal divisions the European Commission has shelved plans for a proposal concerning a threshold for the special labelling of genetically modified seeds, 8 September 2004.

European Commission: DG Health and Consumer Protection: Overview: Food and feed saftey http://ec.europa.eu/comm/food/food/biotechnology/gmfood/labelling_en.htm

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