What crops?
GM
Crops, also known as Biotechnology Crops, include Soya, Canola Oil,
Cotton and Maize, almost all of which are grown in America, Canada and
Argentina. Most soya and maize, which are found in a lot of processed
food, now contains GM-ingredients. The Pew Initiative on Food and Biotechnology provides information on crops, quantities and distribution.
World
Virtually all countries voted in 2000 for the Biosafety Protocol on GM Organisms (GMOs), known as the Cartegena Protocol.
This sets out procedures and rules concerning trade in biological
products including agricultural commodities. The Protocol applies to
the transboundary movement, transit, handling and use of most GMOs and
allows use of the "Precautionary Principle" to make judgments.
Codex Alimetarius (the world "Food Code" body) produced guidelines in
July 2003 to manage the food safety risks of GM foods uniformly across
all countries. Provisions of the guidelines include pre-market safety
evaluations and product tracing for recall purposes and post-market
monitoring. (more)
EU
The European Parliament passed laws in July 2003 lifting the moratorium
of GM foods, but forcing labeling of all genetically modified food with
more than 0.9% GM material and requiring separation of GM throughout
the food chain. USA, Canada & Argentina (Egypt dropped out)
requesting a WTO panel (18/08/03) to examine EU moratorium on biotech products, claiming it a barrier to their trade.
The EU moratorium will remain until the EU has put in place a raft of
new rules on safety testing, labeling and tracing genetically modified
organisms "from farm to fork." (Details).
The Eurobarometer 2001 registered that 70% of the European public don't
want GM food and 94% want to be able to choose whether or not they eat
it.
UK
The Prime Minister's 'Strategy Unit'
carried out a study into the overall costs and benefits associated with
the growing of GM crops. The study concluded that the health risks were
not as worrying as what may happen to the environment. They propose
that there should be neither a total ban, nor should there be automatic
clearance; every new crop should be on a 'case by case' basis. More at GM Science Review
