EU Council relies on deregulation: Danger for GMO-free food!

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Laimgrubengasse 10, 1060 Wien, Österreich - The EU member states are at the scabbard of the new genetic engineering (NGT). After more than one and a half years of negotiations on a uniform regulation, the committee of the constant representatives (AStV) of the EU announced a lazy compromise in Brussels on Friday. However, this leaves many central points open, such as the labeling and traceability of NGT products, which is unacceptable for the food industry and consumers, as the ARGE genetic engineering free emphasizes. The Council's negotiating mandate does not contain a clear position on the labeling, which makes negotiations difficult and potentially ensures a step backwards in the transparency of food production. The discussion was triggered by the EU Commission's proposal for deregulation in the summer of 2023, which now leads to the trilateral negotiations in which ratified regulations between the EU Council, the EU Commission and the European Parliament have to be developed in order to build a uniform market strategy for NGT products, such as bauernstimme.de reported.

The EU Parliament had already made a clear position in April 2024 to anchor the traceability and labeling as essential components in the regulation of the NGT. Nevertheless, the following negotiations of the council support far-reaching deregulation that is criticized because it could enable biotechnology companies to grow genetically modified seeds without adequate risk and security tests. Martin Häusling, negotiator of the Greens in the European Parliament, expressed concerns: "This would represent a mega challenge for the food industry that would have to bear the costs for security tests and liability risks". The pressure on the negotiating parties is increasing, because the position in particular of the Eastern European Member States could find a majority that is promoting drastic deregulation - a step that would be fatal according to Häusling and endangers diversity in agriculture, like the APA-OTS

WARNT.

The potential effects of the planned deregulation on the food industry are considerable. The industry faces challenges in terms of costs and liability that could result from the cultivation and marketing of NGT products. Farmers and seed breeders are urgently demanding legal certainty and compliance with the requirements for transparency and security in order to continue to be able to operate genetic engineering free of charge in the future. "Clear regulations from the field to the finished product are needed, otherwise there is a considerable return in food production," sums up Florian Faber from the ARGE GMO-Free and sees the EU challenged to clarify these open questions before negotiations.

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