Brussels, 07/07/2010 (Agence Europe) - The European Parliament is strongly opposed to meat or dairy products from cloned animals reaching the table of consumers, and nothing will make it change its mind. Taking a stance at second reading on the proposal for a revised January 2008 regulation on novel foods, MEPs, unsurprisingly, reiterated their wish for all food from cloned animals and their offspring to be banned, and for a moratorium to be imposed on the marketing of food produced through nanotechnology without any guarantee of safety and without transparency (EUROPE 10133). In so doing, they followed their rapporteur, Kartika Tamara Liotard (GUE/NGL, NL), who was delighted with the result.
“A clear majority in the European Parliament supports ethical objections to the industrial production of cloned meat for food. Cloned animals suffer disproportionately highly from illnesses, malformations and premature death. MEPs have been calling for proper regulation for years - it is high time the Commission listened to the European Parliament and citizens on this issue”, Kartika Liotard said.
On the other hand, the Parliament supported the procedure for easing authorisation for novel foods with a risk assessment carried out by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA). This constitutes the heart of the proposal for a regulation with a view to facilitating the marketing of novel foods and food ingredients, whether they are produced through biotechnology or conventional technology, albeit little known in Europe.
It is, however, out of the question for the Parliament that this future regulation should constitute the legal framework for authorising or banning diary products and meat from cloned animals. Speaking out against the Commission and Council on this point, MEPs call for a new, separate legislation to expressly ban food from cloned animals and their descendants. In the same concern for precaution, the Parliament calls for a moratorium on the sale of food produced with the aid of nanotechnology or consisting of nano-ingredients, until the methods of risk assessment of the processes using nanotechnology or nano-ingredients are available for proving that such food is safe. Concerned by the fact that nanotechnology is already being used in food and food packaging, MEPs call for each nano-ingredient approved to be mentioned on food labels.
If the Council does not accept this second-reading position of the Parliament, it is highly likely an agreement will be sought through conciliation procedure. In such a hypothesis, conciliation meetings begin in September. (A.N./transl.jl)