Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2003-07-01-Speech-2-117"
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"en.20030701.5.2-117"2
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"Madam President, that was a very good example of a French expression of an inferiority complex vis-à-vis America!
I, along with the majority of the British Conservative MEPs and the majority of members of my group, see genetic modification as an interesting and potentially very useful development for mankind and for our environment. Genetic modification of plants and seeds holds out the possibility of better food production in harsh climates and of assuring future food supplies to a fast-growing world population. It also holds out the possibility of reducing artificial agricultural inputs, notably pesticides and herbicides, whose use can cause collateral environmental damage.
The Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Consumer Policy has heard no convincing evidence that GM foods are a threat to human health or to biological diversity. If we had, we would have been very reluctant to see these proposals adopted at all. As it is, this debate has been remarkable for the chorus of Greens, Liberal Democrats and Socialists hymning the prospects of GM foods subject to safeguards.
Some MEPs may still want to differ from the Council over the question of the thresholds but we should remember here that we are talking about very tiny amounts. The text we adopt will specify that GM presence of more than 0.9% of any ingredient will trigger the labelling requirement. That is a tiny amount. Let us be honest. The 0.9% tolerance level is, in itself, on the very margin of detectibility. There is something bizarre about Europeans putting in place such requirements when consumers in other parts of the world do not insist on them, when there is no health evidence that supports them, and when we are probably legislating for the technically impossible.
I have one question for the Commission. If this legislation is adopted, and if some countries are reluctant to lift their moratorium on genetically modified foods, what action will it take?"@en1
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