Fwd: FW: [Food-news] EU may let GMO crops into organic food

[Guest guest]

>

> www.foodnews.ca

>

> Editor's Note: As organic labeling is poised to

> shift from national to

> EU-wide in the coming months, the question of the

> coexistence of

> conventional, GM and organic crops raises the

> possibility that the

> definition of " organic " could include partial GM

> content. Since some

> inputs into the organic process may be inadvertently

> affected by GMOs,

> many experts suggest that the only gurantee against

> any GM contamination

> in organic foods is a total ban on GMOs

>

(http://www.ifoam.org/press/positions/ge-position.html).

>

> http://today.reuters.co.uk/

>

> EU may let GMO crops into organic food-green groups

>

> Thu Dec 22, 2005 5:24 PM GMT

>

> By Jeremy Smith

>

> BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Draft EU laws on organic

> produce may allow

> genetically modified (GMO) food to creep into a

> sector that should be free

> of any biotechnology, green groups say.

>

> This week the European Commission proposed new

> regulations on organic

> farming that would allow products with up to 0.9

> percent of GMO content --

> acquired through accidental or unavoidable

> contamination -- to retain a

> label of " EU organic. "

>

> But any producer who knowingly used GMO material in

> processed food or

> feed, even from a product supplied by a third party,

> would not be allowed

> to use an organic label.

>

> So the problem rests between accidental and

> deliberate presence; and the

> 0.9 percent threshold is the labeling level already

> enshrined in current

> EU law on biotech food and feed.

>

> The Commission is likely to present the proposal to

> EU agriculture

> ministers in January although no decision can be

> expected for some months.

> " Genetic contamination of organic food is completely

> unacceptable to

> consumers throughout the EU, " said Helen Holder, GMO

> campaigner at Friends

> of the Earth Europe.

>

> " The European Commission should be protecting

> organic farmers and

> consumers with laws that prevent organic farming

> from being contaminated

> by genetically modified organisms. "

>

> The London-based GM Freeze Campaign said the

> Commission proposal was the

> " thin end of a wedge which will allow the creeping

> contamination of

> organic food across Europe. "

>

> While green groups and GMO-wary EU governments would

> like to see very low

> GMO thresholds permitted for traditional farming,

> and preferably zero for

> the organic sector, both Commission and biotech

> industry experts say this

> is impossible to achieve.

>

> The best that can be hoped for, they say, would be

> to aim for 0.1 percent,

> which scientists say is the minimum GMO presence

> that they can identify.

> " We'll see what the member states have to say. This

> will be one of the

> most controversial parts (of the proposal), " one

> Commission official told

> Reuters.

>

> " There is some pressure to make the threshold the

> level of detection at

> 0.1 percent. But to have it at zero is impossible. "

>

> The EU's looming debate on organic labeling will

> form part of a

> long-running row over how to separate GMO,

> traditional and organic crops

> -- a concept known as coexistence in EU jargon.

>

> Several countries, particularly those like Austria

> and Luxembourg that

> consistently vote against new authorizations of GMO

> products, want

> hard-and-fast EU legislation in this area.

>

> EU Agriculture Commissioner Mariann Fischer Boel has

> often said she may

> consider a legal framework, maybe in 2006, for how

> EU governments should

> deal with coexistence and minimize crop

> cross-contamination.

>

> ********************************

>

>

>

http://www.planetark.com/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=34176 & newsdate=22-Dec-2005

>

> EU Outlines Labelling Plans for Organic Farming

>

> BRUSSELS - Organic farmers across the European Union

> will soon have to

> move away from national labels for their produce and

> clearly inform

> consumers that it comes from the EU, a draft law on

> organic farming said

> on Wednesday.

>

> While the European Commission, author of the draft,

> would like to

> encourage greater use of an EU organic logo that it

> launched in 2004, it

> would still allow farmers the freedom to use other

> labels provided they

> include the words " EU-organic " .

>

> At present, producers have difficulty selling

> organic food in different EU

> countries as there is a patchwork of national and

> private logos which can

> be costly and complicated to obtain.

>

> The draft, to be discussed by agriculture ministers

> next year, requires

> that at least 95 percent of the final product must

> be organically produced

> to be labelled as such.

>

> Products containing genetically modified (GMO)

> material may not be

> labelled as organic, except for those with up to 0.9

> GMO percent through

> accidental or unavoidable contamination. This is in

> line with current EU

> law on biotech food and feed thresholds.

>

> The International Federation of Organic Agriculture

> Movements (IFOAM)

> welcomed the Commission's draft law but voiced

> concern that it failed to

> address the thorny issue of liability in cases where

> GMO material is

> detected in organic crops.

>

> " It is welcome news that the EU organic label will

> not be made obligatory,

> allowing full space for private labels, " IFOAM said

> in a statement.

>

> " An existing legal loophole will be closed so that

> products labelled as

> containing GMOs can never be called organic.

> However, not addressing here

> the issue of liability in case of GMO contamination

> is a continuing

> concern, " it said. Separating GMO, traditional and

> organic crops, known as

> coexistence, is a problem that EU has yet to get to

> grips with.

>

> Several EU states, particularly those like Austria

> and Luxembourg that

> consistently vote against new authorisations of GMO

> products, want

> hard-and-fast EU legislation in this area.

>

> Although Europe saw its organic farming area jump by

> nearly 70 percent in

> the late 1990s, this growth rate has now slowed down

> in several countries

> where it has reached a plateau.

>

> In the EU-25, the amount of organic farmland is

> around 5.7 million

> hectares, or some 3.5 percent of its total

> agricultural area, and around

> 175,000 farms are now run organically.

>

> Germany has Europe's largest organic market at just

> over $3 billion, with

> fruit and vegetables as its top revenue earners.

>

> Britain, Italy and France also have important

> markets, where there have

> been high growth rates in recent years. Britain, for

> example, is home to

> Europe's largest organic fruit market.

>

> But the average market share for organic products in

> the EU remains small

> at around two percent, with some exceptions such as

> vegetables at between

> five and 10 percent.

>

> Story 22/12/2005

>

>

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