June 2002
Dear
Thank you very much for your letter regarding GMOs. Your comments are very valid and I completely share your concerns. The Greens/EFA have been following these issues closely in the Parliament.
We have been actively working on the GMO issue in a number of areas. Firstly, we were at the forefront of the European Parliament's call for rules on liability for damage caused by GMOs which may be interpreted as going beyond the liability concept of the European Commission's proposal on environmental liability (COM(2002) 17). The Commission's proposal is based on an extremely limited definition of environmental liability, and limits in particular 'biodiversity' to natural habitats and species listed in Annex I to Directive 79/409/EEC, or in Annexes I, II and IV to Directive 92/43/EEC, and habitats and species protected under the relevant national legislation on nature conservation. The proposal would, however, also cover "land contamination".
We have also been active in the Environment Committee in discussion on Commission's proposal on GMOs: traceability and labelling (COM(2001) 0182) and Commission proposal on Food safety: genetically modified food and feed (COM (2001) 0425).
In the particular case of animal feeds, the Greens/EFA are against the thresholds and are in favour of labelling of animal products derived from animals fed with GMOs. My colleague, Caroline Lucas (Green MEP South East) recently tabled amendments on this in the Industry Committee.
Greens in the European Parliament have been leading the campaign demanding that consumers have the right to know what is in the food that they are purchasing. Caroline and I will continue to campaign vigorously against the lobbying of the EU and member state governments by the GM industry. It is totally unacceptable that they should want to force GM products onto our markets without proper labelling, whilst at the same time campaigning against accepting liability. Thank you for your letter and for raising this issue with us.
Yours sincerely,
Jean Lambert MEP
London Region, Green Party