Press Release: Smith confirms Ireland to support EU proposals on GM varieties

The Irish Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, Brendan Smith, confirmed on 8 February 2011, that Ireland had altered its voting position and would support a number of proposals from the European Commission aimed at authorising the placing on the market of food, food ingredients and feed containing, consisting of, or produced from genetically modified maize and cotton. Ireland would also support European Commission proposals to introduce a tolerance for the low level presence of, as yet, unauthorised GM varieties in imports of animal feed.