European Union and GMO policy: Anti-Frankenfood.
- Tree of Knowledge Research
- Feb 12, 2014
- 2 min read
<< This post is a continuation from previous discussions. To read the introduction and earlier posts, click here.>>
As discussed in previous blog posts, the EU typically takes a more risk adverse approach to food regulations and follows suit regarding GMO policy. The EU has emplaced precautionary principles to prevent or delay the approval of GMOs.[1] Despite studies that claim GMOs are safe, the EU has implemented strict laws regarding GMOs to ensure the protection of their public. In the EU, in order for a producer to market a GMO within EU boarders, a GM applicant must demonstrate the safety and lack of harm of each individual product.[2] In addition, as a prerequisite for placing a product on the market, the laws require mandatory labeling and traceability, post-market monitoring measures, and mandatory public disclosure.[3]
A large reason for such strict laws is due to an upheaval in the regulatory landscape of EU food legislation during situations like those of the mad cow disease mentioned in a previous post. These crises increased public pressure to enforce better policies, which the EU did-- greatly tightened its regulatory controls, becoming even more precautionary and risk adverse, especially in regards to GMO as a new technology.[4] The EU thus, turned away from trusting scientific knowledge as an adequate guide to regulatory policy, focusing more on ensuring public safety and increasing public security.[5]
The risk-adverse modus operandi practiced by the EU is based on an assumption that the dangers of modern technology outweigh its benefits and that to avoid future harms, the EU should approach such technology cautiously. Currently, the EU has approved the least number of genetically modified products and remains as the most cautious region in the world in terms of genetically modified foods.[6] The EU has also implemented very strict regulations on the labeling of genetically modified food, requiring all food that contains genetically modified organism to be clearly labeled as such for the convenience of consumers.
<<To see the comparaision between the EU approach to food safetey legislation regarding GMOs and the US approach and see which approach China has followed, click here.>>
[1] James Cameron, " The Precautionary Principle," in Gary Sampson and W. Bradnee Chambers, eds. Trade, Environment and the Millennium New York: United Nations University Press, 1999 p. 250.)
[2] See Pollack & Shaffer at 10.
[3] See Directive 2001/18, of the European Parliament and of the Council of 12 March 2001 on the Deliberate Release into the Environment of Genetically Modified Organisms and Repealing Council Directive 90/220/EEC, 2001 O.J. (L 106) 1, 8-9 (permitting each member state the use of a “safeguard” to prevent unwanted GM product entry into its territory).
[4] Commission Green Paper on the General Principles of Food Law in the European Union, COM (1997) 11176, available at http:// www.foodlaw.rdg.ac.uk/eu/green-97.doc)
[5] Oliver Godard, "Social Decision-Making Under Conditions of Scientific Controversy, Expertise and the Precautionary Principle, " Integrating Scientific Expertise into Regulatory Decision-Making, Christain Joerges, Karl-Heinz, and Ellen Vos, editors, Nomos Verlagsgesellschaft, 1997 p. 65.
[6] See Pollack & Shaffer at 24.
