(EU) EU/GMO - COMMISSION INTENDS TO INTRODUCE TOLERANCE THRESHOLD FOR
ACCIDENTAL OR INEVITABLE PRESENCE OF GMOS IN SEEDS
September 18, 2003
Agence Europe
(EU) EU/GMO - Commission intends to introduce tolerance threshold for
accidental or inevitable presence of GMOs in seeds.
Brussel - The European Commission intends to modify existing legislation on
seed in order to introduce a tolerance threshold for "accidental or
technically unavoidable" GMOs in traditional or organic seed.
In compliance with the opinion of the plants scientific committee, this
threshold will be located in the 0.3%-0.7% band according to the kind of
seed, "either a level that is necessarily lower than the 0.9% threshold
established in July by the Council and Parliament in the regulations on
traceability and labelling of foodstuffs and animal feed that contain GMOs",
explained Beate Gminder, spokesperson for Commissioner David Byrne. The date
for this Commission initiative has not been set. It will come into being
after the permanent committee on seed has reached decisions on these
thresholds (next meeting on 22 September). The decision will be made
concrete by a technical modification of the directive on the purity of seed
and directives on colza, potato seeds, Soya and corn.