Brussels, 03/11/2010 (Agence Europe) - Environmental NGOs are accusing the European Commission of preparing to break with the zero tolerance of unauthorised genetically-modified organisms (GMOs) in seeds imported into the EU to be planted to provide crops for animal feed. A draft EU regulation to harmonise how the 0.1% tolerance of GMOs detected in crops for animal feed is interpreted (see EUROPE 10244) is causing concern and criticism from Friends of the Earth Europe (FoEE).
The draft regulation is currently being discussed at various departments of the European Commission and will be submitted to the EU standing committee on the food chain on 15 November 2010. In a press release published on Wednesday 3 November, FoEE says that the draft regulation “weakens the EU zero tolerance policy by allowing traces of non-approved crops in imports coming into Europe with a threshold of 0.1%. Europe would effectively open its borders for GM crops that are not authorised or assessed for their safety in any country in the world.”
The European Commission disagrees that it is trying to introduce a 0.1% tolerance for the accidental presence of non-authorised GMOs in imported crops. The regulation will define authorised sampling and detection methods for identifying GMOs in animal feed and 0.1% is described by Commission experts as a “zero technique”, in other words the GMO detection threshold, and is only there to help member states interpret the zero technique below which sampling methods are neither reproducible nor safe. Experts from the member states will be giving their opinion on the draft regulation on 15 November. (A.N./transl.fl)