>LABELS: Linking Consumers and Producers - Vol. 1, Number 7 January 15, 1998
>-----------------------------------------------------------
>
> Table of Contents
>
> - U.S. Proposed Organic Rule Impacts Eco-Labeling, Comment Period Is Now
> - ISO Forestry Press Release Attacked as False, Withdrawn
> - Austria Develops Own GMO Label, Labeling Debated Heavily Throughout EU
> - Country-of-Origin Labeling Supported by ACGA and NCBA, Controversial
>Among
> Distributors
> - Label It! Certified Predator Friendly Wool
> - News Briefs
> - Resource
> - Events
> - Quote of the Week
>
<snip>
>
>AUSTRIA DEVELOPS OWN GMO LABEL, LABELING DEBATED HEAVILY THROUGHOUT EU
>
>Austrian environmentalists, farmers, food producers, and grocery stores
>have banded together to create the first European nation-wide seal
>guaranteeing that foodstuffs do not contain genetically modified (GM)
>ingredients. The coalition includes Greenpeace, Global 2000, farmers,
>and the major grocery chains Billa, Spar, and Adeg. Florian Faber,
>managing director for the Working Group for Foods Produced Without
>Genetic Engineering, said the European Commission (EC) has requested
>that the working group compile documentation of similar initiatives
>developing in other European Union (EU) countries. To obtain a seal
>from the organization, producers must be able to prove that no GM
>materials have been used in any step of the process and must be open to
>outside monitoring.
>
>The EC did not win approval from member states on December 18, 1997, for
>their proposed rules of mandatory labeling of all foods containing or
>derived from GM corn or soybean. The EC favors analysis for the presence
>of modified DNA, but where traces have been destroyed by processing,
>food would not be labeled. Food experts from 15 EU member countries
>have begun dissecting the EC plans following complaints from consumer
>groups, environmental lobbies, the European Parliament and some EU
>governments that consumers would not be properly informed under this
>plan. European Consumers Organisation (BEUC) director Jim Murray
>criticized the EC suggestion for a label indicating that a product "may
>contain" GM products if it is unclear whether GM products are present in
>bulk or unsegregated deliveries. "If every product on the supermarket
>shelf was labeled 'may contain,' there would be no consumer choice at
>all." Food manufacturers and some EU governments, however, say the EC
>proposal is too stringent.
>
>Fears about the safety of current authorization procedures have already
>led both Luxembourg and Austria to ban imports of Novartis corn. This
>month, EU governments again delayed the decision whether or not to
>repeal the ban, an EC official said. National experts put off the vote
>until March.
>
>The U.S. is firmly against the EC GM label proposal. "We strongly
>oppose efforts to have mandatory labeling and or segregation of
>genetically engineered products," U.S. Agriculture Secretary Dan
>Glickman commented in early December. Glickman said he hopes the
>labeling proposal is dropped because it could become a trade barrier.
>Canada does not share the U.S. criticism of the EC proposal. "From our
>point of view, this is a labeling issue," said Agriculture Canada trade
>specialist Charles Craddock, "We decide what labels to use here and they
>can do the same."
>
>Arthur Rogers, "Confusion Over Standards for Safe Food Continue in
>European Parliament," THE LANCET, January 10, 1998; Barry Wilson,
>"Canada Won't Fight Biotech Food Labeling in Europe," THE WESTERN
>PRODUCER, December 18, 1997; "Confidence Crisis Over Genetic Beans,"
>BBC, January 12, 1998; "Consumers Criticize EU Plan to Label Gene
>Foods," REUTERS, January 13, 1998; "Diverse Group Unites to Create Seal
>Guaranteeing Foodstuffs Are Free From GMOs," INTERNATIONAL ENVIRONMENT
>REPORTER, December 10, 1997; Gillian Handyside, "EU Gnawed by Worries
>Over Genetically Changed Foods," REUTERS, January 6, 1998; Leslie
>Adler, "Monsanto Aims to Advertise Safety of Gene Foods," REUTERS,
>January 8, 1998; "U.S. Opposes EC Labeling Proposal - Glickman,"
>REUTERS, 1997.
>
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>
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>Produced by the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy, Mark
>Ritchie, President. Editor: Kathryn Gilje, e-mail iatp@iatp.org.
>European correspondent: Leentje den Boer. E-mail versions are available
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