EU Commission Proposes New GMO Labeling Law
By Patrick Chalmers
BRUSSELS (Reuter) - Companies selling gene-modified farm products such as corn, soybeans and other crops in the European Union will soon have to label them as such, according to European Commission proposals adopted Wednesday.
A Commission statement said the draft rules, which EU country experts must approve before they become law, mean companies would label their products "may contain or may consist of genetically modified organisms.''
European consumer concern about genetically modified organisms and food safety in general has grown since the continent's outbreak of "mad cow'' disease, the fatal brain-wasting condition in cattle, and its perceived mishandling by Britain and the European Commission.
"The Commission has responded as quickly and efficiently as possible to the growing concern in the general public which has been focused in particular on the absence of specific labelling of genetically modified products,'' European Environment Commissioner Ritt Bjerregaard said in the statement.
"This is a first step only and will be followed by further proposals for legislation in this field,'' she said, a reference to Commission plans for labelling rules for seeds and animal feed containing genetically modified organisms.
Wednesday's proposal would not impose labelling obligations on subsequent users of any released genetically modified organisms. Nor would they apply to organisms already approved for EU release, such as Ciba Geigy's insect-resistant Bt-corn or Monsanto's weed killer-resistant soybeans.
EuropaBio, the European Association of Bioindustries, said recently its members would encourage farmers and intermediate processors of gene-altered products to pass "appropriate information'' about such crops on to their customers.
The environmental group Greenpeace dismissed Wednesday's proposals as inadequate, saying they did nothing to inform consumers or to force separation of genetically modified or non-gene-altered products.
Greenpeace has fought the market release of Monsanto's gene-altered soybean, grown commercially for the first time in last year's U.S. harvest and sold unlabelled in the EU despite the protests of the EuroCommerce, the European association of European retailers and wholesalers.
Wednesday's changes will not apply to 11 products submitted for EU release approval, although the Commission has said it will encourage submitting companies to comply voluntarily.
The term genetically modified organisms refers to living animals and plants whose genes have been artificially altered to enhance certain characteristics. The technology is controversial because of disagreement about the unpredictability of environmental effects caused by widepread release of such products.