European Commission conducts impact assessment on GM seed contamination thresholds

In May 2007 the European Commission's Directorate General on the Environment had launched an "online consultation on Community labelling thresholds for the adventitious or technically unavoidable presence of authorised genetically modified (GM) seeds in conventional seeds", which "aims at exploring the views of stakeholders on the issue of establishing specific labelling thresholds for the adventitious or technically unavoidable presence of authorised GM seeds in conventional seeds".

At a stakeholder meeting on Wednesday 23. April 2008 the Commission presented the results of responses from a total of 243 representatives of member state authorities, farmers, industry, NGOs and individual citizens.
These results of this survey, which will soon be published on the Commissions website, include that over 70% of all respondents estimated, that the higher the threshold levels for GMOs in seeds are set, the more GM plants will disseminate in the environment possibly causing adverse effects. A majority about 60% rejected the notion that zero presence was impossible, and 70 % disagreed with any need to recognize “adventitious presence” of GMOs in seeds as well as the concept to establish thresholds just “as low as feasible and proportionate”. The highest level of approval for a specific threshold level was for 0,1%, the lowest option, in all stakeholder groups, including industry and public administration. With the exception of industry more than 50% of the stakeholders opted for the lowest threshold, while other thresholds of 0,3% or 0,5 % were rejected by more than 70%.
The Commission plans to complete an impact assessment of different options for GMO thresholds in seeds by June. It will then be up to a political discussion which options to chose.

"Save Our Seeds" together with the European Units of Greenpeace, Friends of the Earth, IFOAM (organic farmers organisation), the Coordination Paysanne Europeénne (small farmers association), EFFAT (food and agricultural trade unions) issued a letter of concern to the Commissioner and the Directorate General, outlining why they do not consider such an exclusively internet-based, English-only, four week exercise as an appropriate way to address this serious issue. We have received a letter of response from the Commission, offering a public consultation in addition as well as an extension of the deadline, which has finally expired 17 July 2007. According to the EU Commission the questionnaire was part of an impact assessment of possible GMO thresholds in seed, which it aims to complete by autumn this year. Two studies have been commissioned to this end. One is on the overall crop production situation in the EU conducted by the Commissions own Institute for Prospective Technological Studies in Sevilla. Another one is on the present situation in EU Member states as regards the testing and the level of contamination of seeds with GMOs, conducted by the UKs Central Science Laboratory , which also hosts the UK governments Seed Audit Programm

Inital NGO letter of concern on the online consultation

letter of response from the Commission

Questions of the online-consultation and sample of answers by Save Our Seeds

Supplemental information and comments submitted by Save our Seeds