News | July '07 | The good news, and the silly
Plans to start a new wave of GM releases are on hold as the European Commission (EC) failed to find enough support from Member States. The first new proposed GM crop was a BASF potato genetically transformed for manufacturing industrial starch and for penicillin-resistance.
Recently, EU member states have also stood up to US pressure to approve 'Herculix' insect-resistant GM maize.
Concerns about Herculex include the incompleteness of its risk assessment, especially since it produces two Bt toxins active in animals, and the reliability of previous European Food Safety Authority opinions on similar GM crops. There is a suspicion that, because Herculex has been at the centre of a number of contamination scandals, the EC is keen to 'neutralise' the problem of contamination rather than have to deal with it. The request for authorisation will now be passed on to an EU Council of Ministers for another round of votes.
And just when you thought Europe was getting sensible ...
EU Agricultural Ministers have agreed that any food accidentally contaminated with up to 0.9% authorised GM content can be sold as “GM-free”. The Soil Association and Organic Farmers Association, which together certify more than 90% of the UK's organic food, have pledged to maintain their own criteria at the present, and easily verifiable, 0.1%.
Both the EU and the Soil Association warn that the testing of food to ascertain its GM status could push prices up.
OUR COMMENT
The testing required to ascertain food is 99.9% GM free can't cost any more than the testing required to ascertain a level of 99.1%. And neither can cost any more than the testing required to ascertain food is free from illegal GM contamination. The latter costs will escalate as more GM crops emerge. In other words, all food from any source will have to be tested to make sure it is genetically legal for sale, besides being correctly labeled. The only route to keeping down food prices is not to grow GM at all and so avoid the necessity of testing in the first place.
The knock-on effect of a positive GM test will be that food grown organically will end up being sold as conventional, at conventional prices. Any organic or conventional foods which have tested positive for GM will have to carry a GM label. Since the public don't want to eat them, any food needing a GM label is likely to be fed to animals or go for landfill. It sounds as if our food supply will be much more stable if we avoid growing GM at all.
However, there's another scenario. The abandonment of the GM potato has meant that other EC plans to introduce GM maize and rapeseed have been put on hold. The reasons cited for this include:
- fears of a public backlash (that's YOUR reaction they fear)
- EU governments strongly swayed by (your) campaigns against GM foods
- consumers (that's you) have no desire to eat GM produce
- people (that's you again) expect politicians to put their health, food safety and the environment before the vested interests of the biotech companies.
Note what a big part YOU are playing in all of this.
Since Britain has championed GM foods, but often found itself isolated among the other EU member states, KEEP INSISTING that your regulators and food safety bodies protect you by supporting the precautionary stance taken by other countries.
The Soil Association is intent on maintaining your confidence in organic food by refusing to dilute its standards. The organisation is demanding the polluter should pay for any genetic contamination of organic food. Check out www.soilassociation.org
and
KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK!
SOURCES
- Telegraph 2.07.07
- Friends of the Earth Europe 25.06.07
- Daily Mail 20.06.07