EXCERPT: "Last year, a GfK NOP poll for Friends of the Earth and GM Freeze found that 89% wanted clear labelling of GM-fed animal products."
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The UK needs a labelling scheme for GM-free meat products
If meat and dairy from animals reared on GM feed is not labelled we allow crops without safety approvals to enter the food chain
Posted by Caroline Lucas
Thursday 10 February 2011
http://bit.ly/iiBVMe
Most people don't like eating foods that have been genetically modified. Where they have a choice that is, the products are clearly labelled and there are alternatives they tend to avoid GM offerings. This is one reason why GM crops tend to form animal feeds or staple foods, where consumers either have no choice or no awareness.
There is every justification for the European Union to be cautious about authorising GM products: concerns about the impact of genetic modification on the environment and human health, and the risk of placing farmers in the hands of monopoly suppliers of GM seeds.
But the potential profits for Monsanto and other firms if they can crack open the EU market means the debate will not go away. This week, the EU Standing Committee on the Food Chain and Animal Health was due to consider proposals to allow a low level of contamination of feed imports with GM crops that have not been approved by European regulators although the vote has now been postponed. This is a slippery slope, allowing crops that have not been given safety approvals to enter our food chain. These can include experimental crops genetically modified to produce industrial chemicals or pharmaceuticals, or ones resistant to multiple herbicides.
The push for the EC to drop its "zero tolerance" policy to unapproved GM varieties started in 2009 after traces of unauthorised GM maize were found in soy shipments from the USA. To avoid such shipments being refused entry at European ports, the GM industry began a major lobbying exercise, documented by Friends of the Earth Europe, which claimed that there would be a major shortage of animal feed in Europe if shipments contaminated with unauthorised GM crops continued to be refused.
To scare policymakers and farmers, one industry representative went as far as to claim that "European farmers will be forced into wholesale slaughter of their livestock rather than have the animals starve". In reality, the 66,000 tonnes of material actually rejected is only 0.2% of the 32m tonnes of soya imports to the EU hardly crisis proportions. All contaminated shipments come from the USA and plenty of GM-free animal feed is available from other countries.
This week's debate is not the end of the story. Friends of the Earth Europe has questioned the legality of the proposal and campaign group GM Freeze is continuing to encourage people to write to members of the European parliament. However, it is a powerful reminder of the lobbying activities of the major agricultural biotechnology companies which, as recent WikiLeaks documents have shown, are backed with strong-arm tactics by the US government.
Rather than caving in to industry lobbying, the government should listen to the public and ensure that meat and dairy from animals fed on GM feed is clearly labelled. Last year, a GfK NOP poll for Friends of the Earth and GM Freeze found that 89% wanted clear labelling of GM-fed animal products.
In Germany, France, Austria and Ireland, government-backed voluntary labelling schemes allow consumers to choose meat and dairy products fed GM-free feed a system that is good for business as well as for consumer choice. Time for one here?