MPs urge label clarity for GM food
7 March 2000
MPs urge label clarity for GM food
MPs are calling on the government to ensure consumers know what labels on GM food mean so they can make an informed choice.
A report from the agriculture select committee looked at the practicalities of keeping GM crops separate during growing, storing, transporting and selling.
Chairman David Curry told the Radio 4 Farming Today programme that choice for shoppers was the key.
“The heart of the report is that if the consumer wants to buy GM foods theyre available, but if the consumer doesnt want to, that choice is there as well.”
Mr Curry said the committee felt the industry was acting diligently to make sure there was proper segregation, but wanted to examine if this held together over the food chain.
“We felt there was a danger with the way the baton was passed from one sector to another that people got rather confused about what was guaranteed and what wasnt.”
The committee suggested parts of the system should come together and the government should establish criteria and guidelines in which people would have real confidence.
Meanwhile, Friends of the Earth is urging consumers Europe-wide to keep up pressure against GM food.