12/10/2001 (Agence Europe) - France's SNIA (Syndicat national des industriels de la nutrition animale, Animal Feed Producers' Syndicate) calls on French and European state authorities to lay down GMO labelling rules and tolerance thresholds. The industry feels that the current situation (whereby the phrase "may contain GMOs" has to be mentioned when the industry has no definite information) cannot be sustained, explained Yves Montécot, SNIA President. The phrase in question mainly applies to untraced imported soyabeans, in other words 80% of the soya imported into the French market. Mr Montécot admitted that the industry never uses the phrase "GMO free" because "absolute zero does not exist". The SNIA warns that this practice would have financial repercussions for the consumer. Soya imports traced back to origin would cost 10% more than untraced soya. The European Union imports 30 million tonnes of soya from the Americas each year. Growing soya beans is outlawed in Brazil, but soya from Argentina and Uruguay (which authorise GMOs) transit through Brazilian ports.