May 7, 2007

 

GMO control proving difficult for EU grain trade

 

 

Shipments of corn feed into the European Union have declined in recent months due to difficulties with Genetically Modified Organisms, or GMOs, Mariann Fischer Boel, commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development said Friday (May 4).

 

A major problem is that a growing number of GMO varieties are being approved in key EU agricultural trade partners such as the US, Brazil and Argentina, but not yet by the EU.

 

"Apart from the dangers of unwanted contamination itself, of course we must consider what would happen if we had to block imports altogether from given origins, to avoid such contamination," said Boel while addressing the annual conference of the EU grain trade association COCERAL.

 

Since EU imports of corn feed production are fairly small, so the problem is not especially large, but Boel said it may become a wider problem with soybeans and soymeal. 

 

The EU imports much larger volumes of these products, accounting for more than 40 percent of Argentina's soybean exports, and more than 50 percent of Brazil's, said Boel.

 

"The best solution is not yet clear," Boel added. "Many of our trade partners have a different perspective on GMO regulation from ours."

 

Currently the commission is looking into why the EU approval process can be sped up without compromising risk assessment. Boel said this area is the only way forward.

 

Feed traders argue the EU should relax its standards from zero tolerance of non-approved GMO contamination to 0.1 or 0.2 parts per million, holding that such a small amount would not prove to be a risk to food.

 

Farmers also say they are loosing productivity gains by not being able to plant the higher yielding GMO crops that growers can in competing countries.

 

Boel said the EU learned an important lesson in the last year after a strong public backlash was seen after rice imported to the EU was discovered to be contaminated with non-approved GMO grains. Boel said you would have to be a very good psychologist to change the EU's general perception in the issue and move away from complete zero tolerance.