Not declaring Ireland GM-free ‘gives market boost to competitors’

IRELAND’s hesitation in declaring itself a GM-free zone is handing other EU farmers a marketing advantage on a plate, says the Irish Organic Farmers and Growers Association (IOFGA).

The association says the state needs to deliver on its plan to ban genetically modified food cultivation and introduce a German-style voluntary GM-free label, as outlined in its revised Programme for Government last October.

IOFGA development officer, Grace Maher, said: “The Government needs to create GM-free food labelling by the end of 2010 and to declare the Republic a GM-free zone within a year. Regions all over Europe are declaring themselves GM-free because that is what the consumer wants.