Europe's Sensible Answer to Biotech "Contamination"

The (bogus) issue of biotech "contamination" of organic crops has been discussed a couple of times on Hit & Run. It seems that European regulators are more or less in agreement with proposals that I made some years ago.

According to Reuters,

Europe's farm chief defended her plans to permit more genetically modified (GMO) content into organic farming on Monday, saying it would be too costly for farmers to achieve higher purity in their organic produce.

Questioned about her draft law that would allow products with up to 0.9 percent of GMO content to retain a label of "EU organic", EU Agriculture Commissioner Mariann Fischer Boel said the recommended labeling threshold was a realistic one.

"It's a standard threshold in the regulation," she told a news conference, referring to the 0.9 percent label level that is already enshrined in current EU law on biotech food and feed.

"We live in the real world. The lower we go (on a threshold), the more expensive it will be for organic producers. We have to find the right balance," she said.

I predict that one day biotech and organic farming will be combined in the most nature friendly farming system ever devised. You heard it here first.

Once again, no biotech crop stocks were flogged in this blog item.