VIENNA, April 15 (Reuter) - More than a million Austrians have signed a petition calling for a ban on genetically modified foods and forced parliament to debate the issue.
"The European Commission should listen to the 1,226,551 Austrian citizens...calling on their government to stop the release of genetically engineered organisms into food and the environment," Greenpeace Austria's Ulrike Schelander said in a statement on Tuesday.
"The Austrian people have given a very strong signal to the other EU countries and the whole world -- a vast part of our population does not want to eat genetically altered food. Now the politicians have to act accordingly," she said.
The petition, organised by environmental groups, farmers and members of the Roman Catholic Church, forces parliament to hold a debate on the issue which could lead to a referendum.
The Interior Ministry announced the result of the petition on Monday evening. Under Austrian law, just 100,000 signatures are needed to trigger a parliamentary debate.
Austria two weeks ago introduced a law stipulating that genetically modified foods must be labelled to fill a legal gap until EU legislation, expected next month, comes into force.
Environmental groups say the law is not comprehensive
enough.
They are demanding the government ban all genetically manipulated organisms
(GMO), ban GMO production and defend its existing
ban on imports of genetically-engineered maize
even if it means going before the European Court.
06:57 04-15-97