COUNTRIES MAKING RULINGS ON GM/GE FOOD CROPS
posted 1st Dec 99

Rules are on the way in Asia to regulate genetic foods, with Australia and Japan taking the initiative.

The region remains in a three-way split. Big importers such as Japan and Korea are more interested in consumer labelling and its effects on imported food. China is more interested in possible transgenic productivity injections into its own food production while countries such as Australia and Thailand are interested in both effects.

Japan decided in August that foods made with genetically modified (GM) crops be labelled beginning April 2001. Many food products are exempt on the ground that DNA or protein resulting from gene alteration cannot be detected. Labelling is required where GM material is one of the top three ingredients, in terms of weight, and the weight of GM material is five percent or more of the total weight. This is less stringent than the EU rule requiring warning labels when at least one ingredient contains more than one percent GM material. Japan has approved 22 varieties of six GM crops for import and sale, including soybeans, corn, rapeseed, potatoes, cotton and tomatoes. Products in which GM DNA or protein cannot be detected with current technology, such as vegetable oil and alcoholic drinks, are exempt, as is animal feed.

An advisory committee to Japan's Minister of Health and Welfare is discussing whether to approve seven new GM varieties: herbicide-resistant rapeseed, herbicide-resistant/insect protection cotton, herbicide-resistant sugar beet and varieties of herbicide-resistant corn. The health ministry is considering tightening regulations to allow it to ban non-approved GM imports. Currently Japan does not test imported farm products for unapproved GM crops.

South Korea's parliament enacted a law in July to regulate GM food labelling. The government is yet to decide which products will be required to be labelled. Guidelines on the issue are promised by the end of 1999. A Korea Consumer Protection Board survey showed 94.7 percent believed warning labels on GM foods was necessary.

Australia and New Zealand: The Australian and New Zealand governments decided in August to order mandatory labelling of all genetically modified foods. The law is expected to apply from the end of 2000. The Australia New Zealand Food Authority (ANZFA) is presently conducting safety assessments of 20 commodities in broad categories including soy, canola and cottonseed oil. There are no requirements for labelling of these products at present. On November 2 ANZFA called for public comment on 13 GM commodities currently undergoing safety assessment: corn, cotton, canola, sugar beet, potatoes, maize and high oleic soybeans.

Malaysia is typical of most Southeast Asian nations in having no present laws requiring labelling of GM foods. Thailand also with no present labelling laws, is concerned over food exports to Europe. The 1999 seizure of a container of Thai canned tuna in oil by Greek customs, which demanded proof the exports did not contain GMOs, highlighted the potential threat to Thai exports and the need for proper labelling. Thai fears were reinforced last month by a scare over a cargo of imported grain which contained GM corn.

China is silent on the GM foods issue, although it is far more interested in boosting agricultural productivity through GM crops than introducing strict labelling laws. China is moving strongly into producing transgenic cotton, planting around one million hectares of GM cotton this year. South Korea is attempting to move into producing GM foods, with Nong Woo Seed Co Ltd, for example, opening a genetic engineering department to develop GMO seeds while Thailand plans to introduce GM cotton, papayas, tomatoes, chillies and vegetables and imports product such as U.S. soybeans, believed to be genetically modified.

Australia has two GM crops, cotton and carnations. About 30 percent of the present Australian cotton crop is GM. More GM crops are under trial and active consideration. The USA's proportion of main crops genetically engineered are: corn 33%, soy 50%, cotton 50%. However these percentages are dropping, not rising even though the U.S. is the world's leading producer of genetically modified crops, while Japan is a major importer of corn and soybeans and prepared food products made from them.