Archived press release

Government urges MEPs to vote for GM food.

9 May 2003

The Government is asking UK Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) to vote in favour of the GM contamination of our food and against the widespread labelling of food containing traces of GM materials, Friends of the Earth revealed today. The advice comes ahead of the Government's `public debate' on GM foods.

In a few weeks time MEPs will vote on new European legislation to strengthen the labelling of food containing GM-derived ingredients. Currently food containing at least one per cent of GM DNA must be labelled. The new proposals would strengthen the legislation by:

• Reducing the GM labelling threshold. MEPs backed a 0.5 per cent labelling threshold at the first reading last year, but the Council of Ministers increased it to 0.9 per cent. MEPs can still vote for the 0.5 per cent threshold, though Friends of the Earth has been calling for the limit to be set at the lowest detectable level (currently 0.1 per cent).

• Increasing the scope of the legislation to include GM derivatives, which don't contain DNA, such as oil and lecithin. This would be achieved through a comprehensive `traceability' regime;

• Extending it to cover animal feed.

However the Government is urging MEPs to weaken the proposals by voting to maintain the current GM threshold of 1 per cent. The recommendation is contained in a briefing to MEPs from the Food Standards Agency and Department of the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) [1,2]. The briefing claims thresholds below one per cent are unenforceable. But the Government's own Central Science Laboratory has confirmed that a limit of detection of 0.1 per cent is verifiable [3].

The briefing comes hot on the heels of the FSA's own Citizen's Jury, held in Slough in early April, the 15 jurors unanimously recommended comprehensive labelling of any food containing GM ingredients or derived from GM crops [4] including "a GM logo".

EU citizens strongly support comprehensive labelling, with the latest polls indicating that 94 per cent back strong EU legislation to maintain choice for consumers [5].

Friend's of the Earth's GM Campaigner Pete Riley said:

"Consumers have made it perfectly clear that they want comprehensive GM labelling so that they can avoid food containing GM ingredients. But once again the UK Government is ignoring public concern on this issue It is urging MEPs to weaken new European legislation on GM food labels, and reduce the ability of consumers to choose what they eat. So much for the openness of the Government's GM public debate, to be launched next month.

"The role of the Food Standards Agency must also be questioned. It claims to be listening to consumer concerns, but when it comes to GM labelling, it seem to represent the biotech industry. The major supermarkets are already working to a 0.1 per cent threshold."

Notes

[1] GM Food and Feed Proposal (copies of the full document from the press office), sent on Wednesday 7^th May

The Food Standards Agency leads on this proposal

Labelling threshold

Council compromise threshold of 0.9% (Parliament proposed 0.5%: amendments 3, 31, 57, 66) above which products containing adventitious presence of authorised GMOs have to be labelled is not a real advance in terms of consumer choice or practicability. Current 1% threshold represents balance between the current capability and reliability of detection methods and ability of supply chain to deliver.

The lower the threshold is set below this level, the higher the margin for error in testing, the less reliable the results, and the harder the legislation to enforce to the benefit of genuine consumer choice

Tolerance of non-approved GM material

Council compromise of 0.5% threshold (Parliament proposed 0%: amendments 9, 36) for tolerance of non-approval GM material with a favourable opinion from a European Scientific Committee, is unreliable for same reasons as apply to labelling thresholds. Problem will continue so long as the illegal de facto moratorium on decision-making on GM products remains in place, and GM crops continue to be approved and cultivated in non-EU countries.

[2] MEPs will vote in plenary on traceability and labelling regulations on 1-3 July

[3] www.csl.gov.uk/prodserv/cons/sup020909.pdf (PDF†)

[4] The jurors unanimously agreed on wider issues related to GM food:

• More time is needed to understand the long-term environmental implications of GM crops before farmers start to grow them in the UK

• Growing GM crops in the UK would be irreversible and that it might eventually reduce choice

• There is very little information available to the general public about GM food. If it is to be widely available consumers need to understand all the related issues before choosing whether or not to buy it

• The public needs to know what GM means and what tests are being carried out to ensure it is safe

• The public needs to know more about the regulating bodies and their responsibilities

• There should always be a choice between GM, non-GM and organic food and labelling is an extremely important issue in relation to choice

• There should be a GM logo on every product that contains GM foods or derivatives, or that has been made using a GM processing agent

• There should be clear labelling on meat and milk from animals that have been fed using GM foods

[5] Eurobarometer opinion poll published by the European Commission in December 2001 showed that 94.6 per cent of European citizens want the right to choose and 70.9 per cent simply do not want GM food.

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Published by Friends of the Earth Trust