Anthony Keeling - President - European Seed Association

September 2003

To what extent do the recent proposals and decisions of the EU on these issues reflect the positions of the ESA and the European seed industry?

Hardly at all so far! But they could be worse if we were not working to explain and persuade legislators that it is in everyone's interest to have realistic rules and thresholds. These need to allow different farming systems to co-exist and our seed industry to serve those markets without unreasonable risks to our very existence (e.g. due to potential liabilities against 'innocent' seed companies).

We played  some part in persuading legislators that 0.9% GMAP was the least that should be 'allowed' as a maximum in non-GM food and feed without special labeling; if this had been lowered to 0.5% as was being proposed by the European Parliament, life would have been even more difficult for our members in the future.

 

 

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