Canada is not joining the United States in objecting to a European Union move that will require labeling of products made with genetically modified corn or soybean.
“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.”
However, he said Canada will watch to make sure the labeling is fair and universal, and not a means of keeping foreign products out of Europe.
“As long as it is not discriminatory, I don’t think we will object,” he said.
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The same requirement likely will apply if the EU ever agrees to allow imports of canola altered through biotechnology.
The U.S. sees the issue as possible European protectionism.
Agriculture secretary Dan Glickman has said he hopes the labeling proposal is dropped because it could become a trade barrier.
Member states of the EU are considering a proposal from the European Commission, its executive arm, that new labeling rules take effect Feb. 1, 1998.
A committee of food experts from the 15 member states were expected to meet this week to consider the idea.
If approved, products clearly produced from genetically modified soya or corn would carry a label indicating “produced from genetically modified maize/soya.” It is estimated that 60 percent of food products contain soy.
If it was at least possible but not certain, the label would read “may contain GMOs” or genetically modified organisms.
European politicians and bureaucrats are reacting to concerns from consumer and environmental groups that genetically altered crops could provoke allergic reactions in consumers or pass on to other species resistance to antibiotics, insecticides and pesticides.
Promoters of biotechnology insist these fears are unfounded.
