Fianna Fáil votes to change Irish policy on GM products

FIANNA FÁIL in its final days in government changed the country’s policy on genetically- modified organisms and voted at EU level to allow untested GM into animal feed.

Up to now if any GM product that had not been authorised for use in the EU was found in imported animal feed, all of it would be rejected. Greenpeace said it opened the door to contamination of the food chain.

Irish officials on the committee on the food chain and animal health voted to allow up to 0.1% of GM product where authorisation is pending or has expired in the EU but has been authorised by a third country.

There was a qualified majority in favour of abandoning the EU’s zero-tolerance approach, with France and Germany among those voting in favour.

Agriculture Minister Brendan Smith announced his intention to change from the usual Irish position of abstaining on this GM issue when it arises at EU level where they are regulated.

He said that Irish imports of feed were delayed in port because of the EU’s authorisation process. Almost all the soya and maize feed imported from North and South America contains GM varieties sown in these countries, and which they find increasingly difficult to segregate from the unauthorised varieties, he said, adding it increased the cost of feed.

Fianna Fáil’s programme for government with the Greens committed them to declaring Ireland a GM-free zone. Green party member Trevor Sargent accused their former coalition partners of siding with big business against growers and consumers and said it would undermine the country’s reputation with consumers globally.

Greenpeace EU agriculture policy adviser Stefanie Hundsdorfer said the EU has come under pressure from the US and the animal feed industry to relax its rules to allow more GM crops into the market.

“If the safety of a GM crop has not been tested in Europe, it should not be allowed. The danger now is that EU countries come under pressure from the pro-GM lobby to allow GM contamination in food products for direct human consumption,” she said.

Greenpeace rejected the argument that delays of shipment were increasing the cost of feed. They said EU figures show that cases of contamination in shipments for the livestock industry are extremely rare. Since mid- September 2009 no shipments of soy were rejected at EU borders because of contamination.

Health and consumer policy spokesperson Frederic Vincent said: “[GM testing] procedures may be used by the exporting country too and should eliminate the problem of a shipload of product being tested ok in the US but when a different sample is taken here, traces of some unapproved GM are found.”

In 2009 there were four million tons of maize and 33 million tons of soya meal imported for animal feed, mainly from Argentina, Brazil and the US, which produce some 80% of the world’s GM crops.

Ireland imports relatively little feed since cattle are mostly grass-fed. But there have been a number of incidents of unauthorised GM plantings in the EU including last June when the Department of Agriculture said one variety of GM maize had been discovered at one of its experimental farms.

A majority of EU member states are still against GM crops being cultivated in the EU.