Brussels, Belgium
November 29, 2002

Yesterday, European Agriculture Ministers reached a political agreement on the Genetically Modified (GM) Food and Feed Proposal. "It is encouraging to see that Ministers have, through careful deliberation, opted for a regulation that provides some consistency to authorising and labelling GM products across the European Union, but some concerns remain," says Simon Barber, Director of the Plant Biotechnology Unit of EuropaBio. "The common position reached by the Agriculture Ministers appears to show their general reticence towards encouraging the use of innovative technologies in food and agriculture."

Member States voted for a decentralised environmental safety assessment of GM seeds for growing, thus rejecting the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) as the central management body. "In a Europe of 15 member states, a consistent set of rigorous safety assessment standards across Europe coordinated and managed by one central body is important but after Enlargement in a Europe of 27, it will become a matter of necessity," says Simon Barber. "EuropaBio supports a centralised safety assessment procedure for GM products including seeds under EFSA to ensure a single set of rules for a single market."

Ministers agreed to a 0.5% level of GM material that can be present at trace levels (adventitious presence) in food and feed products. According to Simon Barber "These levels are very low and they will be tough, perhaps impossible, for countries that are growing GM plant varieties, and especially developing countries that are exporting their traditional food and feed products to Europe." Furthermore, this only applies to GM material judged as safe by a relevant scientificcommittee before the Regulation enters into application. "There should be no difference between a scientific committee opinion given next week versus one given a year from now," says Simon Barber. EuropaBio supported the Commission's proposal for a practical 1% threshold for traces of all GM products that are declared safe by relevant EU scientific committees.

The Commission's proposal to label any food and feed product that has more than 1% of GM material was reduced to 0.9%. This is not a matter of food safety as this refers to products approved for use in the EU. "In setting such a low level, Ministers have simply ignored current labelling practices, and other country threshold levels ranging from 1-5%."

The Environment Ministers are due to reach a common position on the traceability and labelling of GM products at their 9th and 10th December meeting next month. The two proposals will then go back to the European Parliament for a second reading in the first half of 2003. Last week, the Parliament overwhelming voted in support of biotechnology (Damaio report) to contribute towards finding genuine solutions to environmental problems, sustainable development and food sufficiency, and help combat chronic hunger and improve human health. EuropaBio now looks to the Members of the European Parliament to support a pragmatic framework for GM rules.

EuropaBio has almost 40 corporate members operating worldwide and 20 national biotechnology associations representing some 1200 SMEs involved in research and development, testing, manufacturing and distribution of biotechnology products. EuropaBio, the voice of European bioindustries, aims to be a promoting force for biotechnology and to present its proposals to industry, politicians, regulators, NGOs, and the public at large.