New genetically engineered food products will start to appear on supermarket shelves again following Wednesday's decision by the European Commission to approve the commercial release of a variety of modified sweet corn.
The decision breaks a de-facto European moratorium, introduced in 1998, on new genetically modified (GM) food releases. In the intervening period, producers have teed up 23 GM products awaiting acceptance on the European market. These are likely to trickle rather than rush through, however, given the acceptance procedures put in train by the Commission during the moratorium. As ever, products will have to be shown to be safe but they will also have to carry labelling. This will indicate GM content, confirm the source of ingredients and provide a means to trace the origins of a food or ingredient.
The moratorium was a good thing if only because it allowed time for credible controls to be brought into play. But realistically the Commission had little choice but to allow these products to reach shop shelves given that the EU was bound by World Trade Organisation agreements. GM proponents including the US, Canada and Argentina brought pressure to bear, citing unfair trade restrictions against products that had passed all safety tests. The advantage now is that consumers will have a choice. Yes the products will be on the shelves, but they will be labelled as GM and can be readily avoided by those who don't want them. Not buying a product is the surest way there is to drive it off the shelves and out of existence.
However, the protracted moratorium did little to take political expediency out of the equation. Indignant politicians across Europe happily beat GM technology for electoral advantage without a clear understanding of the technology, its benefits or its risks. It was always going to be easier to say no, in the hope of short-term political gain at home, rather than to steer an objective path through the conflicting views of GM and to reach a decision on what is rapidly becoming an inescapable technology.
The genie is already out of the bottle. The objective now is to ensure that adequate controls are in place to police the market and to ensure the safety of food. GM foods have been eaten for more than a decade by millions of people with no apparent negative effect. Bodies such as the Food Safety Authority of Ireland and the European Food Safety Authority must remain vigilant on behalf of the consumer.
And those consumers who fear this technology can exercise their rights and leave behind products in which they have no confidence.