Source: Meeting the Challenges of WTO and CAP Reform
Irish Farmers Association Submission to Government for a Viable Farming and Food Sector and Sustainable Rural Economy
Excerpt from pages 35 & 36.
Full report in PDF format: http://www.ifa.ie/connected/ifa/media/press/Meeting%20Challenges.pdf

Irish Farmers Association’s strategy on GMOs is as follows:

As the decisions on the use and release of GMO products, and the safeguard regulations, are taken at EU level, Ireland cannot adopt an independent national position. Clearly Irish regulatory authorities, including the EPA, have a crucial role to play in implementing these safeguard regulations in order to reassure consumers on the safety of the products.

Provided that the use and release of GMOs meet all the detailed regulatory requirements, IFA’s assessment of GM technology is that, like science and technology generally, it can have many positive implications for agriculture and food production. These include: control of animal and plant disease, reduction of costs and improved productivity.

EU legislation must ensure that plant and animal varieties shall not be patentable. The use of farm saved seed must be allowed.

The key issue currently facing the EU Commission and the member states is the regulatory arrangements for the
co-existence of conventional, organic and genetically modified crops. COPA and COGECA, on behalf of EU farmers and co-operatives, have adopted a position as follows.

Firstly, a pre-condition for co-existence is that the sector must be economically viable under the constraints applied to it.

Secondly, harmonised EU legislation on co-existence, which would be compulsory on all member states, must be put in place.

Thirdly, as regards conventional agriculture, the “adventitious” (i.e. non-intended) presence of GMOs is unavoidable due to imports and trade, and realistic thresholds must be set before compulsory labelling is triggered.

BACKGROUND

Genetically modified organisms (GMOs) are organisms (bacteria, plant and animal cells, etc) capable of transferring genetic material which has been altered in a way that does not occur naturally by mating or natural recombination. In the past 30 years, the development and use of genetic engineering technology has brought
many useful applications in healthcare, e.g. new pharmaceuticals and vaccines. For the EU member states including Ireland, the regulation of GMOs is decided at EU level.

In some countries outside the EU, including the US, the use of GMO technology in commercial production is more advanced than in the EU. This has implications in terms of low levels of GM products in the EU food chain, irrespective of EU regulation.

In the context of EU regulation, GMO activities are considered under the separate headings of “contained use” and “deliberate release”. Contained use activities are carried out by third-level institutions or industrial users for
research and development. Permission from the EPA is required before GMO trials in Ireland may be carried out.

Deliberate release of GMOs into the environment, which is the area of most concern to both producers and consumers, is covered by EU Directive 2001/18/EC. This Directive, which has been transposed into Irish law, strengthens the previous legislation with respect to a more detailed pre-market scientific evaluation of GMOs, mandatory postmarket monitoring plans, and mandatory labelling for all GMOs. The EU GMO-specific regulations on labelling and traceability, food and feed, transboundary movement and environmental liability are now in force.

Two types of release are covered by Directive 2001/18/EC; these are for (a) field trials or clinical trails and (b) placing GMOs on the market. To-date 23 GMO products have been approved at EU level to be marketed in any EU member state. To do otherwise could be challenged in EU or WTO and compensation demanded. The moratorium in the EU from 1998, whereby no new GMOs had been approved, has recently been lifted.