Sierra Club signed on to this.
laurel hopwood, sierra club genetic
engineering action team chair
For Immediate Release: April 20,
2010
MORE THAN 80 GROUPS URGE FDA AND USDA TO
CHANGE
U.S. POSITION ON FOOD LABELING
Position Will Create Problems for American
Producers to Label Products GM/GE-Free
Upcoming International Codex Meeting to
Discuss Food Labeling, May 3
Yonkers, NY-Consumers Union, the nonprofit
publisher of Consumer Reports, and more than 80 farmers, public health,
environmental, and organic food organizations today sent a letter to Michael R.
Taylor, Deputy Commissioner for Food at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration
(FDA), and to Kathleen Merrigan, Deputy Secretary at the U.S. Department of
Agriculture (USDA), expressing serious concerns that a proposed U.S. position on
food labeling would create major problems for American producers who want to
label their products as free of genetically modified (GM)/genetically engineered
(GE) ingredients. A copy of the letter can be found online: http://www.consumersunion.org/pdf/Codex-comm-ltr-0410.pdf
The Codex Alimentarius Commission is a United
Nations agency that develops food safety and labeling standards. Its standards
carry weight because they are used to settle disputes at the World Trade
Organization. The Codex Committee on Food Labeling (CCFL) meets in Quebec
City, Canada May 3-7, 2010 to discuss the labeling issue.
The letter refers specifically to a position,
drafted by USDA and FDA, that opposes a Codex document stating that countries
can adopt different approaches to labeling of GE food, in line with existing
Codex guidance. The current U.S. draft position goes even further to say
that mandatory labeling of food as GE/GM "is likely to create the impression
that the labeled food is in some way different" and would therefore be "false,
misleading or deceptive."
"We are concerned that the current U.S.
position could potentially create significant problems for food producers in the
U.S. who wish to indicate that their products contain no GE ingredients. Organic
food in particular, which prohibits GE ingredients, are frequently labeled
'GE-free' or 'No GMOs'. A recent CU poll found that two-thirds of
consumers would be concerned if they thought that GE/GM ingredients were in
organic food," said Dr. Michael Hansen, senior scientist at Consumers
Union.
The U.S. position paper states that Codex
should not "suggest or imply that GM/GE foods are in any way different from
other foods." However, Dr. Hansen stated, "Such foods clearly are
different. USDA organic rules specifically state that GE seed cannot be
used in organic production. The FDA has also taken the position that within the
U.S., voluntary labeling as to whether or not a product contains GE ingredients
is permissible."
The letter to USDA and FDA is signed by the
Organic Trade Association, the Organic Consumers Association, the Union of
Concerned Scientists, the National Organic Coalition, and R-CALF USA, among many
others. A full list of the signatories can be found online.
"We find it hard to understand how FDA and
USDA can argue to Codex that mandatory labeling is inherently false and
misleading, but voluntary labeling, which is permitted in the United States, is
not," the groups state. "We are, in fact, concerned that the current U.S.
position appears to seek to establish precedents at Codex that would make it
difficult to label food as non-GM within the U.S."
The groups also urge the U.S. to not allow
trade goals to interfere with or overrule judgments made on sound science and
existing policy.
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