Germany Approves "GM-Free" Label
by John Laumer, Philadelphia on 02.18.08
There's a good chance that the United States, Argentina, Brazil, Canada, India and China are segmenting completely from Europe with regard to genetically modified food policy making. In Europe, the emphasis seems to have gone from regulation of GM crop growing and shipping to end-product labeling. For example, the German government has determined it will host a "GM-Free" food label, going forward. Check out the linked article to get a context.
Germany's upper house of parliament approved a new label on Friday that will declare foods that contain no genetically modified organisms ''GM Free.'' Genetically modified foods are a sensitive topic in Germany, where environmental groups contend that many such crops are unsafe for humans and the environment. Germany's lower house of parliament, the Bundestag, already approved the law, which is now expected to go into effect in March.Under the law, milk, meat, eggs and cheese will earn the ''GM free'' badge only if animals did not feed upon any genetically modified products. Animal products can still bear the label, however, even if the livestock was exposed to genetically altered vitamins, amino acids and other additives, as long as there were no available alternatives.
Via::Manufacturing.net, "Germany Approves 'Genetically Modified-Free' Food Logo" Image credit:The Telegraph
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And I thought they were going to label Chevy trucks as bad for Germany. ;-)
If the US refuses to label genetically-modified foods, let's hope there's always the option of buying some foods (like canned goods) imported from Europe.
Let the dollars do the talking (it's the language of business, if common sense and fairness usually are not).
I'm with Chris, hoping Germany would ban Suburbans or something.
But on topic, genetic modification has some serious potential, but until a lot more testing is done, food needs to be labeled. This technology hasn't been around long enough to consider it of the same quality as non-GM food. But future GM fruits and veggies grown organically could be the answer for escalating food costs.
This could be a very good thing for Germany, if producers could use the label to market to Americans. There's definitely a niche market there.
Awesome, I'm going to have to keep an eye out for the label when I go to my little German store down the street! :D
I love Germany! And to think I hated coming here.
This article also helps me out for my GM foods research paper. Hell yeah, Treehugger!