EU To Permit Unapproved GMOs in Food Imports
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The European Union will begin drafting new rules that will allow for trace amounts of unapproved genetically modified organisms (GMOs) to be present in food imports to the region, reported Reuters on Monday, in a move they claim is necessary in order to avoid disruptions in global food supply chains.
The European Union will begin drafting new rules that will allow for trace amounts of unapproved genetically modified organisms (GMOs) to be present in food imports to the region, reported Reuters on Monday, in a move they claim is necessary in order to avoid disruptions in global food supply chains.
According to the report, all unapproved GMOs in imported food will face a 0.1 percent threshold level before it can be allowed in the region. Additionally, the GMOs in question must already have had prior approval in the exporting country before it can be shipped.
An official at the European Commission, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told Reuters that the commission was likely to draft the new regulations before the European summer break, before EU governments and lawmakers can approve them by the end of the year.
[quote]”The European Commission has said it wants to tackle this issue before the end of this year, and we will table a proposal in the very near future,” added Commission spokesman for health and consumers Frederic Vincent.[/quote]Presently, the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) can take up to two years to approve new strains of GMOs for the region, despite them already been cleared for cultivation in North and South America. These delays as such have presented Europe with a food supply chain problem, with many cargo ships bound for European markets having been turned away at the docks.
Accordingly, the new draft rules will follow the precedence set by the European Commission on animal feed last year, when shipments containing less than 0.1 percent of unapproved GMOs were allowed into the region. EU officials also claim that it was impractical to have a GMO contamination threshold for imports of feed but not for food.
Nevertheless, it is unclear whether the idea will have the majority backing of EU member governments. On Monday, German farm minister Ilse Aigner warned that she would oppose any EU proposal to end the bloc’s zero-tolerance stance on unapproved GMOs in human food.
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Speaking to Sueddeutsche Zeitung, Aigner said that changing the zero-tolerance rule for food imports would damage the rights of consumers to buy GM-free food and also reduce transparency of food labelling.
Some environmentalists have also argued that the effect of consuming even a trace amount of GMOs is presently unknown.
