Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2003-07-01-Speech-2-114"
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"en.20030701.5.2-114"2
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"Madam President, I wish to begin by congratulating the rapporteurs, but in particular Mrs Scheele, whose report I followed, for her excellent work and the way she has brought about this compromise agreement on what is a very important report for all our constituents concerning human and animal health and the environment.
The labelling of all genetically modified food and animal feed will give consumers in Europe what 93% of them are asking for: the choice of whether or not to buy GM products. Meat producers, for example, will be able to avoid using GM feed for the first time through labelling. It is not complete choice, because of the threshold levels for authorised – and temporarily for unauthorised – GMOs if their presence is adventitious or technically unavoidable. These levels are too high, but they can be reviewed in the light of developments in technology.
Under the new regulations GM food and animal feed will have to go through a strict authorisation procedure – not just a notification process – and once on the market they can be monitored for effects on the environment. However, as other colleagues have mentioned, of central importance are the measures which can now be taken by Member States to avoid the contamination of other products by GMOs.
Coexistence has become a major issue since we started discussions on these reports, and conventional and organic farmers, and food producers, as well as consumers, will welcome the proposals before us today. I represent Wales, a country where the National Assembly tried to implement separation distances between GM and non-GM crops, only to be informed by the Commission that this action was not legally sustainable. About a quarter of agricultural land in Wales is under agri-environmental schemes, or registered as organic, so this is of crucial importance to the economy as well as to the environment. I am sure that my constituents will be very pleased that action can now be taken on coexistence. I particularly welcome the fact that it is clear here that producers and users of GMOs must take all necessary measures to prevent contamination of other products so the burden is not on the conventional farmer.
These new regulations will defend the fundamental principle of consumer choice and we will see people exercising that choice by not growing GM crops and by not buying GM food."@en1
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