www.checkbiotech.org ; www.raupp.info ; www.czu.cz

Swiss voters go to the polls on Sunday to review a measure that would impose
one of the strictest bans in Europe on the use of genetically modified
organisms, or GMOs, November 2005.

The referendum, if approved, would impose a five-year moratorium on the
cultivation of any plant or import of any animal whose genes have been
altered in the laboratory.

The measure would tighten controls already put in place in 2004 and give
independent Switzerland one of the most rigid regimes governing the use of
GMOs in Europe, including the 25-nation European Union that surrounds it.

Within the bloc, restrictions are specific to types of crops and temporary
in nature, in contrast to Switzerland's proposal for a five-year blanket
ban.

The moratorium specifically bans Swiss agricultural production using GMOs.
The use of imported livestock feed containing GMO material would still be
permitted and research on GMOs, including for the pharmaceutical branch,
would be allowed to continue under the measure.

The debate pits those who say that GMOs offer more productive,
disease-resistant crops and livestock against those who fear possible
environmental fallout or unintended consequences of manipulating genetic
codes.

GMO DIFFERENCES

Switzerland's legislative system allows for regular referendums giving
voters a direct say in lawmaking.

Although not a part of the EU, Switzerland has not escaped Europe's
deep-seated and often bitter divisions over GMOs.

The bloc started an effective moratorium on authorising new gene crops and
products in 1998. This ended in May 2004, when the European Commission, the
EU's executive arm, issued an approval for imports of a GM maize type.

A move by a province of Austria to apply a similar moratorium by becoming a
GMO-free zone was rebuffed by the EU's highest court, the European Court of
Justice, in October. The court ruled that a regional GMO ban ran counter to
EU law.

The EU has several laws to govern the import, use and cultivation of GMOs.
If a particular GMO product is approved under one of those laws, that
approval applies across the EU.

Swiss-based agro-technology firm Syngenta, the world's third-largest
producer of GM seeds, said the measure - if approved - would have little
economic effect on the company but would send the wrong signals about
Switzerland.

"This has no impact on us today because we do all of our research in the
United States," said spokesman Guy Wolff. "But it is damaging for research
in Switzerland and especially in gene technology."

Switzerland accounts for roughly 1 percent of the firm's trade in GM seeds,
which in turn comprises only a fraction of the group's $7 billion annual
turnover, Wolff said.

[today.reuters.com]

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