GM plan 'a licence to contaminate'

Marie Woolf / Independent 4jun01

Food containing genetically modified ingredients banned in Britain will go on sale here with a GM-free label under controversial proposals to be presented this week by the European Commission.

The plan, which follows lobbying from America, one of the world's biggest producers of GM crops, would allow traces of untested products to contaminate food claiming to be GM-free.

The proposal, which will be presented this week at an EU Council of Environment Ministers, will provoke fury from environmentalists, consumer groups and organic producers who are opposed to allowing any GM traces in their food. They will see it as a "licence for contamination."

The Independent has learnt that neither Michael Meacher nor any other UK minister will attend the Luxembourg Environment Council, where the controversial proposal will be discussed, because the meeting is on election day.

The proposals, which were not included in earlier drafts of the EU working document, follow a visit by David Byrne, the health and consumer protection commissioner, to America, where he came under immense pressure to alter EU rules.

Traces of GM food of up to 1 per cent are currently allowed to be sold in "GM-free" produce but only if the genetically modified food has been approved for marketing or testing in the European Union.

But the new rules would allow traces of GM crops, including soya beans and insect-resistant maize grown for animal feed in America, to be included in GM-free foods on sale in Britain.

Such crops are not licensed for sale here and the move will provoke fears that GM crops, such as Aventis' Starlink maize, which was outlawed for human consumption in the US because of fears that it could lead to allergic rashes in humans and diarrhoea, will be allowed in "through the back door."

The Commission has not yet decided on the percentage of GM traces to be allowed in the unlicensed products.

Friends of the Earth said it was taken by surprise by the Commission's proposals and condemned them as "a licence for biotechnology companies to contaminate our food and animal feeds with unapproved GM produce".

Pete Riley, of Friends of the Earth, said: "If ministers agree this then it treats the consumers' objections to GM food with contempt. It's a licence to sell GM food and feed throughout Europe without going through the full safety and approval procedures laid down in European law."

Six European countries currently opposed to the approval of new GM crops, including France, Denmark, Italy, Greece, Austria and Luxembourg, are expected to raise objections at the meeting.

Traces of GM food have been found in GM-free products because of cross-contamination or mixing of GM and GM-free crops in transport. There was an international public outcry last year when Starlink maize, which has only been approved for animal feed in America, was discovered in America in Taco shells on sale in a fast-food restaurant chain.