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MUMBAI, July 4

THE standoff between Europe and the US over genetically-modified organisms (GMOs) is expected to ease considerably with the European Union (EU) adopting rules that would end the ban on genetically-modified (GM) foods. The new rules embraced by Europe are rather tough, but still mark some kind of a breakthrough for the proponents of GM foods.

A threshold or tolerance limit of 0.9 per cent (higher than the 0.5 per cent originally proposed by European Commission) has been stipulated, above which food containing GMO material whose presence is `adventitious or technically unavoidable' would have to be labelled.

Animal feed with more than 0.9 per cent GM content must also be labelled; however, meat or dairy products from animals fed on GM feed do not have to be labelled. Interestingly, there is a stipulation in the new rules that any product derived from GM ingredients but whose presence is undetectable — such as cooking oil — should still be labelled as genetically-modified.

The tough new law and labelling condition is seen as a major advance in allowing consumer the choice. Hitherto, consumers had no choice because of the moratorium on GM foods; now, they have the freedom to choose and their interests are protected by labelling stipulation.

It is as yet unclear how the new legislation will be implemented.

For instance, vegetable oil— say soyabean oil produced from GM soyabean— will not show presence of DNA/modified protein. In such a case, analytical tests will be of little use.

There is likely to be a "paper trail" in cases where analytical tests cannot be applied. But, this can potentially cause unfair competition and fraud, in addition to confusion among consumers, some complained.

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