GM FOOD - Farm Commissioner Fischler calls for end of "muddling-through policy"

"The consumer must be free to choose between GM and non-GM products. In order to do so, we have to introduce an EU-wide labelling system. However, the labelling will be worthless if we do not manage to segregate GM and GM-free on the fields of European farmers", he underlined. He explained that the Commission had already brought forward a coherent strategy on how to deal with GMOs, including clear labelling provision for consumers.

Research has made clear that the situation differs considerably according to the crop. For potatoes, for instance, co-existence does not present a big problem with the thresholds of our existing GMO draft regulations. On the other hand, for maize, changes in farming practices are needed to keep adventitious presence below the threshold. And for seed production of oilseed rape, the necessary changes in farming practices can be substantial, and their costs may be fairly high. This makes co-existence difficult from a technical as well as an economic point of view.

For organic farming, the situation is particularly difficult. On the one hand, European consumers expect organic food to be completely free of GMOs. On the other, organic farms may in some cases face a higher probability of adventitious presence of GMOs than conventional farms. However, it seems that accidental contamination with GMOs is lower on organic farms because separate production and marketing channels already exist for organic produce.