Posted on 07/23/2003 3:18:39 PM PDT by knighthawk
BRUSSELS -- European Union agriculture ministers yesterday formally approved tougher labeling of new genetically altered food products, paving the way for new biotech foods to be sold in Europe by this fall.
The move was a formality after the European Parliament passed the new rules July 2 to avoid a trade battle with the United States.
But Washington said the new rules would do little to remove barriers on new genetically altered products in the European market and has maintained the EU's biotech policy violates principles of free trade.
The EU's health and consumer protection commissioner, David Byrne, welcomed yesterday's move. ''European consumers can now have confidence that any genetically modified food or feed marketed in Europe has been subject to the most rigorous pre-marketing assessment in the world,'' Byrne said in a statement.
Under the new rules, all genetically altered products including animal feed, vegetable oils, seeds and byproducts containing more than 0.9 percent genetically altered material will have to be clearly labeled with the words, ''This product is produced from Genetically Modified Organisms.''
A new register will be set up forcing businesses dealing in GMOs to trace each GMO product from its point of origin to the supermarket shelf. The EU's new European Food Safety Authority will assess the safety of all new biotech products before they are allowed to be sold.
The new laws also allow each of the 15 EU nations to set their own rules to prevent seeds from farms growing genetically modified crops from blowing onto fields producing foodstuffs conventionally or organically.
The EU head office is expected to introduce guidelines later this week detailing how EU nations can set up such rules to ensure common standards.
Despite complaints from Washington, EU environment commissioner Margot Wallstrom said the new rules ''will reinforce . . . international credibility'' of the EU's biotech policy building much needed public confidence in GMOs.
The EU introduced a moratorium on new biotech foods in 1998 in response to consumer fears about the possible health risks, which the United States says are unfounded.
The United States, backed by Canada and Australia, filed suit with the World Trade Organization against the EU's moratorium in June arguing that the ban violated global trading rules.
If people want on or off this list, please let me know.
Seriously, did anybody hear Rush last week on this subject? (Was it Tom Sullivan or Rodger Hedgecock...can't recall)
They had some (supposedly educated) maroon call in objecting to genetically altered crops because they "weren't natural". I was screaming at my car radio, "Is Polio Vaccine natural? Is smallpox vaccine natural? Are antibiotics natural?"
These people are anti-life (in the philosophical sense, not the abortion). Ann Coulter's book may go a long way to pull the scales from people's eyes. They want people to die.
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