Plans for the full labelling and tracing of genetically-modified foods which were approved by the European Parliament yesterday have been welcomed by Irish Green Party MEPs.
Members of the Strasbourg parliament backed, by a narrow majority, proposals for clear labelling of all foods derived from genetically-modified (GM) crops.
The GM labels would apply to foods containing more than 0.5 per cent of GM material. The European Commission had sought a label on all foods containing at least 1 per cent of GM material, but MEPs halved this in a bid to increase accuracy for consumers. Current scientific expertise does not enable experts to determine anything more precise.
The parliamentarians rejected plans to label foods as "GM-free" and also rejected the labelling of animal products derived from animals fed on GM foodstuffs.
The Green Party MEP, Ms Patricia McKenna, said yesterday's vote was "a victory for the Greens' zero-tolerance approach to illegal GM organisms."
She said: "This vote is crucial because it upholds the right of consumers to know what is in the food they eat and it also sends a strong signal to the biotech industry and in particular the US biotech lobby that we are not for turning on proper labelling of GMOs."
Fellow Green Party MEP Ms Nuala Ahern said the party did not get everything it had sought on the issue "but we did get a report that we can stand over for consumers and the situation is much better than it was".
The draft regulation, which also requires the approval of European Union governments, formed the last piece of EU rules designed to ease consumers' concerns about GM organisms.
Friends Of The Earth said the vote paved the way for legislation giving consumers and farmers the ability to avoid genetically-modified foods if they chose to do so.
"This is a major success for European consumers and a serious defeat for the biotech industry which has lobbied hard to water down these proposals," it said.