Controls agreed for GMOs

Date: 12/12/02

By Karen Carstens

ENVIRONMENT ministers agreed on Monday to new controls on genetically modified organisms (GMOs).

They will require shipments of bulk GM grain to carry codes clearly identifying the origins of crops. Before the rules can enter into effect they must be approved by the European Parliament.

Britain and the Netherlands opposed the controls, saying they would prove too costly for bulk shippers as some mixing of GM and non-GM grain is inevitable.

They wanted shipments to be labelled "may contain GMOs" without the need for an exact list of the crops on board.

The ministers also backed a 28 November decision reached by their agriculture counterparts to extend GM labelling regulations for the first time to animal feed and tighten the GM labelling threshold from 1 to 0.9 for EU food and animal feed.

While environmental groups were relieved that the traceability regime was salvaged when the "may contain" label was rejected, they were upset that the ministers also approved a 0.5 threshold for GM content unauthorised in the EU.

"Plans to allow unlicensed GM ingredients into the European food chain are completely outrageous," said Geert Ritsema, Friends of the Earth Europe's GMO campaign coordinator.

The new rules could eventually lead to the EU reopening its markets to GM foods - a moratorium on the authorisation of new GM crops was put in place in 1999.

The Bush administration is reportedly considering launching a World Trade Organization case against the EU to force it to lift the ban.

British MEP David Bowe said he expects to see "a US complaint lodged with the WTO this side of Christmas".

Environment ministers agreed on 9 December 2002 to new controls on genetically modified organisms (GMOs).