EU GM Law Move, Mori Poll Shows Brits Still Anti

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Thursday, 03 July 2003

The European parliament yesterday cleared the way for the lifting of the European Union's five-year moratorium on approving new genetically modified organisms, backing two laws that form the centrepiece of a new regulatory regime for authorising and labelling GM products.
The laws will force businesses and farmers to reveal the existence of GMOs in every food and feed product containing more than 0.9 per cent of GMOs. Labels will have to state: "This product contains genetically modified organisms."
In addition to the labelling requirement the new legislation forces farmers, manufacturers and distributors to collect and retain detailed information on the presence of GMOs in any product making its way through the commercial chain – a provision criticised by the GM industry as cumbersome and expensive. The laws also allow member states to pass national legislation on matters such as fixing the level of damages should GM varieties cross-fertilise conventional [and organic] crops.

A new Mori poll, released to The Independent yesterday, shows that in Britain at least, opposition to GM food remains firm, with just under half the population (46 per cent) opposed to it, and only one in seven (14 per cent) in favour. The major British supermarkets all continue to keep GM products off their shelves, responding to what they see as the public mood.
Source: www.soilassociation.org