Anti-GMO fever grows in Europe

Thursday, June 4, 2009

Anti-GMO politicians are piling up principles as a bulwark against the introduction of genetically modified foods in Europe. Scotland's environment minister, Roseanna Cunningham, told a conference of GMO-free regions in late April that the "democratic principle" should be added to the precautionary and preventative principles to prevent GMO introductions. A press release from her office says surveys showed a majority of consumers on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean were either apprehensive or opposed to GMO products in their foods.

The conference, held in Lucerne, Switzerland, brought together representatives from regions declared as "GMO-free areas." These are defined as "elected political entities which have adopted a decision to keep their territory free of cultivation of genetically modified plants, irrespective of the legal authority they have over the issue," says a press release, which asserts that their numbers are growing. Most of them are in areas where "maize" (corn to North Americans) is produced. A map is available at www.gmo-free-regions.org BF