JAPAN PLANS TIGHTER RULES ON GMO IMPORTS FOR FEED

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JAPAN PLANS TIGHTER RULES ON GMO IMPORTS FOR FEED

October 10, 2002

Reuters Aya Takada

 

TOKYO - Japan, one of the world's biggest grain

importers, is, according to this story, set to tighten

regulations on genetically modified organisms (GMO),

with plans to ban the import and sale of unapproved

biotech crops for use in livestock feed.

 

The story says that currently Japan's Agriculture

Ministry, responsible for ensuring the safety of

animal feed, asks GMO suppliers to voluntarily undergo

its safety assessments.

 

But faced with criticism that lax regulations have led

to the use of unapproved GM ingredients in feed, the

ministry plans to make the assessment mandatory next

April under the feed safety law.

 

A ministry official was cited as saying that under the

new regulations, the ministry will test samples from

grain cargoes at its laboratories nationwide to weed

out unapproved GM varieties, adding, " We will order

importers to destroy or return cargoes to originating

countries (if we discover) unapproved GMOs. "

 

The Agriculture Ministry's move follows similar steps

taken last year by Japan's Health Ministry, the food

safety authority, which has banned imports of foods

containing unapproved GMOs.

 

But unlike the Health Ministry, which has adopted a

zero tolerance policy on imports of unapproved GMOs,

the Agriculture Ministry is considering allowing up to

one percent of unapproved GMOs in feed grains,

recognising that accidental contamination of grains

can occur in production or distribution.

 

The one-percent rule will only be applied, however, to

unapproved GMO varieties whose safety has already been

confirmed by the originating country under testing

standards set by the Paris-based Organisation for

Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), the

ministry official said.

 

The story says that so far the Agriculture Ministry

has approved 32 GM varieties of five crops -- corn,

soybeans, rapeseed, cotton and sugar beet -- for

import and sale under its feed safety guidelines.

 

 

 

 

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