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

On July 1, the city of Moscow will introduce a voluntary system of food
labels indicating that a product does not contain genetically modified (GM)
ingredients, March 2007.

Europe has recently been engaged in a battle with the World Trade
Organization (WTO), which, taking its cue from the US, Canada and Argentina,
considers the European Union's moratorium on GM products illegal.

Meanwhile, Europeans have been collecting signatures and protesting against
GM foods. In the US, a lawsuit was filed against the Department of
Agriculture after it legalised the commercial production of GM alfalfa
sprouts. The court found the agency's actions illegal.

In 2000, 828 scientists from 84 countries signed an open letter to the
world's governments warning them of the hazards of GM foods. Environmental
organisations demanded that the UN declare a moratorium on GM products.
Arguments in favour of GM foods - high crop yields, resistance to diseases,
insects and harsh weather, and their low price (they tend to cost 20-30
percent less than traditional foods) - have also been widely challenged,
though without hard evidence.

Environmentalists say that GM foods will not solve the problem of world
hunger, but they will bankrupt small farmers.

Some biologists believe that GM foods can have a negative effect on the gene
pool and reduce biological diversity. Vladimir Kuznetsov, head of the
Institute of Plant Physiology at the Russian Academy of Sciences, said that
GM foods are dangerous because they are unpredictable. 'Scientists do not
know what effect they will have on the human body in the long term,' he
said.

Research is being conducted on GM foods' effects on human health,
particularly those that may trigger allergic reactions, but not all of the
results have been made public. There is much debate but few facts. One thing
is certain: the GM industry will continue to grow. But how much?

In January, at the Council on Human Rights Policy in the Kremlin, Natalya
Olefirenko, a Greenpeace Russia representative, said that in most Russian
regions GM products account for 10-20 percent of the market. In some cities
without sufficient controls in place, the figure is 50 percent.

In recent years, imports of GM foods (Russia does not produce them) have
increased by more than 100 times. The main GM crops are soy beans, potatoes,
corn, sugar beets and oilseed rape. By law, products that contain more than
0.9 percent GM ingredients must be labelled, but in practice this rule is
often ignored.

Meanwhile, according to an All-Russia Public Opinion Research Center poll,
95 percent of Russians who have heard of GM foods would not buy them if the
products were labelled as such. Consumers, however, are still not able to
exercise their right to choose.

Russian bio-engineers, among them Konstantin Skryabin, director of the
Bio-Engineering Center at the Russian Academy of Sciences, believe that GM
foods 'won't get out of the laboratory until they are thoroughly tested.

Meanwhile, Russia, with its non-competitive agricultural market, has to move
faster to grow and popularise GM crops.' He added that the GM issue has more
to do with business than with science.

Russia's President Vladimir Putin holds a different view. 'With our entry
into the WTO, certain issues have to be addressed,' he said in January.
'American and Canadian products, which are, as a rule, genetically modified,
are competing on the world agricultural market.' He added that 'we can use
Europe's experience' and 'we must inform people about the hazards of GM
products.' Putin proposed to set up a council to regulate GM food.

Europe uses diverse methods to combat GM products, including the destruction
of genetically modified crop fields in France, passing laws that limit the
possibilities of growing GM crops in Germany, banning GM versions of local
and protected crops in Bulgaria, or banning all GM products in Poland. The
end result of all this is the creation of GM-free zones.

Russia is following Europe's example. The city of Moscow and the Belgorod
Region are leaders in this process. The idea of creating GM-free zones is
being discussed in the Volgograd, Kostroma, Murmansk, Ryazan, Sverdlovsk and
Ulyanovsk regions.

Moscow's law stipulates that all agricultural raw materials or food that is
brought to the city through an organised supply system must contain
information about their GM ingredients. It is illegal to use budgetary funds
to buy GM children's food.

Following an inspection of their food, producers will have the right, valid
for one year, to put the label 'This product does not contain genetically
modified ingredients' on any kind of product. As much as 50 million rubles
($1.9 million) will be set aside to purchase special equipment. The media
will inform the public about producers that sell GM products but do not tell
consumers.

So while bio-engineers complain about a campaign to discredit GM foods,
their opponents are demanding a moratorium to give researchers time to study
their medical and biological effects. In the meantime, consumers are trying
to make sense of all that is being said about GM foods.

[www.freshplaza.com]