Ministry expects GMO labels on all food products by year's end

Aphaluck Bhatiasevi / Bangkok Post 19apr01

Products could be labelled for GMO content by the end of the year.

Policies for labelling genetically modified products would be drawn up within three months, Public Health Minister Sudarat Keyuraphan said yesterday. The Food and Drug Administration would do the labelling, she said.

"Three months is not too long a time. What we're concerned about is the health of consumers and our exports.

"There is no clear information about the safety of the products and the policies we issue will likely affect our exports," she said. While policies would be drawn up on the basis of Codex (a joint effort between the Food and Agriculture Organisation and World Health Organisation), officials would not wait for final resolutions from the grouping.

Food and Drug staff had been asked to work with the Agriculture and Co-operatives Ministry in gathering details on food products likely to contain GMO. "The public should be given a chance to choose whether to eat them or not," he said.

Thailand to impose GMO labelling in three months

Reuters 18apr01

BANGKOK - Thailand will be ready to impose a regulation on labelling of food containing genetically modified organisms (GMO) by July, Public Health Minister Sudarat Keyuraphun said in a statement on Wednesday.

She said the public health ministry and the agriculture ministry were working on regulations on an acceptable proportion of GMO in food but had yet to reach agreement.

But she said the health ministry would be able to impose the labelling regulation within the next three months.

"This measure aims to protect the safety of consumers, not to hurt producers of food with GMO content," she said.

Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra said last week his government did not oppose GMO and saw the benefits from the technology, which could increase productivity of crops.

Thai consumers get 'Frankenstein food,' Greenpeace says

Kyodo News Service 10apr01

BANGKOK - Thai consumers are unknowingly eating genetically engineered food products because unlabeled gene-modified products are sold in Thai markets, environmental activist group Greenpeace said Tuesday.

Many of the products are from international food companies that have promised to label or remove gene-engineered ingredients in other countries, it said.

Laboratory tests commissioned by Greenpeace confirmed the presence of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) in seven daily food items sold in Thai supermarkets, according to a statement from the group.

The GMOs were found in Nestle baby food, Good Time instant cereal, Knorr cup soup, Nissin cup noodle, Lay's Stax potato chips, Pringles snacks and High Class Vita-Tofu soybean curd.

None of the products contained information allowing consumers to determine whether or not they were eating GMO food, the statement said.

''Scientists still do not know the long-term effects of releasing GMOs into our environment and on people's diets. Thai consumers have a right to refuse being treated like guinea pigs in what is a massive experiment with potentially far-reaching and irreversible consequences,'' Auaiporn Suthonthayakorn, campaigner for Greenpeace, said in the statement.

Greenpeace accused the manufacturers of practicing a double standard for rich and poor countries, naming multinational corporations Nestle, Unilever, Pepsi, Nissin, and Procter and Gamble.

''In other countries these same companies are implementing a GMO-free policy in the production of their food commodities and speak in favor of GMO labeling,'' the statement said.

In 1996, Nestle in Germany committed not to use GMOs in their baby food, but the company is selling the products in Thailand without informing mothers about the ingredients, it said.

Thailand has no regulations on labeling gene-modified products.