NEWS: Europe tightens GM labelling rules

From: J Corbally (icorb@indigo.ie)
Date: Wed Jul 03 2002 - 14:20:23 MDT


>Europe tightens GM labelling rules
>
>The European Parliament has voted to introduce strict labelling on foods
>containing genetically modified (GM) ingredients.
>Under current EU rules, only food with more than 1% of GM ingredients has
>to be labelled.
>The new proposals, which still need to be agreed by EU environment
>ministers, would mean that food containing GM derivatives which do not
>necessarily show up in testing, such as sugar and oils, would still have
>to be labelled.
>But the parliament failed to agree on extra measures demanded by some
>Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) to label milk, meat and eggs
>from animals reared on GM feed.
>Correspondents say the new rules are likely to cause a trade dispute with
>the United States, where the export of GM crops is worth billions of dollars.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/sci/tech/newsid_2089000/2089320.stm

>Environmental campaign group Friends of the Earth has welcomed the vote,
>saying it paved the way for new legislation giving consumers and farmers
>the ability to avoid GM foods if they chose to do so.

Perhaps someone should let the FOErs in on a dirty little secret; no one
actually *reads* the damn things here!

On another article on the Beeb regarding how likely cross-contamination is,
I found this;

>In animals that have been fed GM food, the scenario is slightly different.
>Here, contamination of meat and dairy produce by foreign DNA is highly
>unlikely but not impossible.

How can GM material get into the genetic code of animals that eat
it? Doesn't make sense to me. Since when do plant genes "infect"
animals? This is total bullshit, right?

Or have they discovered a new evolutionary pathway? "Descent with
mastication" perhaps?

James....

"If you can't take a little bloody nose, maybe you ought to go back home and
crawl under your bed. It's not safe out here. It's wondrous, with treasures
to satiate desires both subtle and gross. But it's not for the timid."
-Q, Star Trek:TNG episode 'Q Who'



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