Don’t fall for ‘GM-free’ labels or à la carte figments of the Green party’s imagination

WHILE your article on GM crops (Examiner Farming, September 30) identifies several issues with Trevor Sargent’s scaremongering on genetically modified (GM) crops, it fails to inform readers that the report cited by Mr Sargent was co-authored by the founder of Genetic ID, a private US company that tests for the presence of GM products.

Mr Sargent’s hoodwinking of consumers is unfortunately not a new occurrence as he was also responsible while minister of state at the time for Bord Bia’s expensive, misleading organic food advertising campaign in 2009 that was subsequently withdrawn at the request of the Advertising Standards Authority of Ireland. Now Mr Sargent wants new labels on milk and meat derived from animals not fed GM (with a high percentage of the extra cost going to testing companies).

However, these labels are likely misleading under EU law as suggested by the Food Safety Authority of Ireland’s statement that “to label milk as ‘GM-free’ could mislead consumers to believe that GM milk is available on the market when as yet there is no such product available”. Members of the German government have called their GM-free meat labels a “gross deception of consumers” because animals can still be fed GM but must have their diet changed to non-GM feed before slaughter.