Door to be opened for non-EU authorised GMOs
Environment Daily 1021, 02/07/01
http://www.environmentdaily.com/articles/index.cfm?action=a-article&ref=9531
[Follow-up: European Commission http://europa.eu.int/comm, tel: +32 2 299 1111, and latest draft of GM traceability and labelling proposals.]

The European Commission is preparing to propose changes to the EU's main legal text on genetically modified organisms (GMOs) in order to permit the accidental presence of unauthorised strains onto the EU market. In a move certain to incense anti-biotechnology campaigners, the Commission will suggest that the EU "deliberate release" directive should be amended so that "adventitious" contamination of GM products with GMOs which have been authorised for use in markets other than the EU but have not passed the EU's approvals system be tolerated below a certain threshold. The proposal will be made along with separate draft rules on GMO traceability and labelling, probably on 18 July. These separate proposals are intended to complement the deliberate release directive and are seen as the key to unblocking a de facto moratorium on EU approval of new GM products (ED 26/04/01 http://www.environmentdaily.com/articles/index.cfm?action=a- article&ref=9793

According to a proposed text released with the latest draft of the traceability and labelling rules, the threshold for unauthorised GMOs would only apply if a GMO found on the EU market was approved elsewhere for the same application. This means, for instance, that GMOs approved elsewhere for use in animal feeds would not be allowed in EU food products under any circumstances. The contamination threshold will be decided at a later date but Commission officials have suggested 1% as the most likely starting point for debate. The Commission's decision to propose changes to the deliberate release directive follows advice by the EU scientific committee on plants that zero tolerance of unauthorised strains was "unworkable" (ED 16/03/01