Brussels, 01/02/2011 (Agence Europe) - These are crucial negotiations, the outcome of which, BEUC (the European Bureau of Consumers' Unions) hopes, may help to prevent European consumers from ending up with cloned animal products on their plates. The European Parliament, Commission and Hungarian Presidency were to meet on the evening of Tuesday 1 February in conciliation, to try finally to agree on the revised proposed “Novel Food” regulation, which remained at deadlock under the Belgian Presidency (EUROPE 10269). The five-year moratorium on the sales and imports of food products made from cloned animals, which was proposed by the European Commission, changed nothing: the bone of contention between the institutions remains food products from cloning, to which Gianni Pittella (S&D, Italy), who leads the delegation of the Parliament, wishes, much more radically, to bar the door.
A few hours ahead of this conciliation meeting, BEUC called on the negotiators to extend the proposed moratorium to descendants and to reproductive materials (sperm and embryos), at least until “knowledge gaps have been addressed and consumer choice is assured”. “Surveys clearly show that consumers don't want food from clones or their offspring. It brings zero benefits to them and they have no means of distinguishing it from conventional food. Even worse, milk or meat derived from descendants of cloned animals could lawfully be sold today in the EU bearing the 'organic' label, thus misleading buyers and ruining consumers' confidence in the organic label”, said Monique Goyens, Director-General of BEUC, in a press release.
According to a Eurobarometer survey of October 2008, 84% of European consumers do not want cloning to be used for the purposes of food production, because they are concerned about the long-term effects of this food on health, BEUC points out. Additionally, the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) itself acknowledges that scientific uncertainty persists. (A.N./transl.fl)