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

Farm ministers last week sent a clear message to the European Commission to
come up with labeling thresholds for the adventitious presence of transgenic
material in seed lots, reported Food Chemical News, May 2006.

Environment Commissioner Stavros Dimas has been resisting moves to set
thresholds despite pressure from seed producers, the biotech industry and
even fellow commissioners. Member-states weighed in on the issue at a May 22
Agriculture Council meeting in Brussels. The ministers were nearly unanimous
in urging the commission to set limits, with only Greece abstaining. Dimas
served as a minister in the Greek government before taking up his post in
Brussels in 2004.

According to Food Chemical News, the question now is whether Dimas will
finally yield to the pressure and produce a proposal ? either for the 0.1
percent limit favored by green advocacy groups, a 0.3 percent threshold seen
as middle ground, or the 0.5 percent limit backed by industry. The
Agriculture Council stressed that the threshold ?should not create a
disproportionate burden for any group of operators.?

Currently seed producers must comply with the 0.1 percent detection limit by
default, because the lack of a threshold means a product with the slightest
trace of transgenic material has to be labeled as containing GMOs
(genetically modified organisms). A 0.9 percent adventitious presence
threshold applies to food and animal feed under the EU?s traceability and
labeling regulation, reported Food Chemical News.

The council also called on the commission to beef up 2003 guidance on
coexistence that member-states use to draft national rules. The council
backed the commission?s view that geographic, climatic and farming
conditions in the 25 member-states are too varied to allow harmonized EU
rules. However, the council said national governments need more in-depth
technical guidance, and the EU should consider adopting common principles on
coexistence as well as providing advice on practical crop-specific
coexistence measures that take into account costs as well as technical
effectiveness.

The council made clear that farmers should be able to choose biotech crops,
and consumers should have a choice among biotech, conventional or organic
foods. The council acknowledged strong consumer demand for organic and
traditional products but added that it is in Europe?s economic interest to
avoid lagging behind in biotechnology.

According to Food Chemical News, the council?s conclusions triggered a
furious response from Friends of the Earth Europe, which said the ministers
would ?allow irreversible contamination of Europe?s food and environment.?
For its part, the trade association EuropaBio welcomed the conclusions,
noting that successful coexistence partly depends on seed limits.

[www.foodchemicalnews.com]

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