Organic consumers shouldn’t pay for GM contamination

On 21 June a delegation representing 70 organic businesses, with a combined turnover of about £ 950,000,000, urged the Secretary of State for the Environment not to make organic consumers pay for GM contamination. The Government currently proposes to allow up to 0.9% GM in organic food without the GM companies being liable for this damage. This is despite the fact that in European law, 0.9% is not a general GM threshold, but rather a threshold below which accidental contamination does not have to be labelled.

Last autumn the Government completed their consultation on the coexistence between GM crops, non-GM crops and organic crops in England. The proposals in the Government's consultation document would allow a GM content in all non-GM food, including organic food, of up to 0.9 %. The Government says that organic and non-GM food containing up to 0.9 % GM would not be labelled, leaving consumers in complete ignorance as to the GM content.  Nor would GM companies be liable for this contamination.

At today’s meeting, the UK’s two largest organic certifiers, the Soil Association and Organic Farmers and Growers, responsible for certifying well over 90 % of UK food, confirmed that they would maintain their current non-GM standards for organic food, at the effective minimum detectable level of 0.1% GM, whatever the Government decides. The 70 organic businesses and the organic certifiers agree that maintaining non-GM policies for organic is in line with consumers wishes, and vital to ensure continuing trust in organic food.

The meeting with David Miliband was arranged by Peter Ainsworth MP, Shadow Secretary of State for the Environment, and Jim Paice MP, Shadow Agriculture Minister, following their meeting with representatives of the companies earlier this year (5 February).

Those meeting David Miliband are: Keith Abel, Director/Owner, Abel & Cole; Neil Burchell, Managing Director, Rachel's Organic; Renée Elliott, Managing Director, Planet Organic; Barny Haughton, Chef/Proprietor, Bordeaux Quay; Bill Henry, Managing Director, Community Foods; Richard Jacobs, Chief Executive, Organic Farmers and Growers Ltd; Bill Jordan, Chairman, Jordans Cereals; Anne Lotter, Director, Big Oz Organic; Peter Melchett, Policy Director, The Soil Association and organic farmer; Tamara Mole, Marketing Development Manager, Pertwood Organic Cereals, and Alex Smith, Chair of the Food & Drink Federation Organic Committee and Managing Director of Alara Wholefoods.

During their consultation, the Government met with a number of GM companies, including  AstraZeneca, BASF Plant Science, Bayer CropScience, Dow AgroSciences, Du Pont (UK) Ltd, Monsanto UK Ltd, and Syngenta Ltd. Not one organic business was consulted directly, and this is the first meeting the Government has had with representatives of organic businesses.

Alex Smith of Alara, Chair of the Food and Drink Federation's Organic Group said:
"There is overwhelming evidence that one of the main reasons that consumers buy organic is to avoid eating food containing any GM. If the proposals set out by the Government were implemented, very significant new economic burdens could be placed on organic food producers, manufacturers and retailers - the Government envisage allowing routine contamination of all non-GM and organic food chains with up to 0.9 % GM. Organic businesses will face enhanced risks of GM contamination, product recall and loss of their most valuable asset, the consumer trust that underlies their brand value".

Peter Melchett, Soil Association Policy Director said:

"The Government wants the full cost of keeping organic food as it now is, at the lowest reliable level of detection of GM (0.1% GM), to fall on organic businesses and their customers.  People who eat organic food will end up paying for a GM policy designed to benefit the GM companies. The Government is putting at risk one of the fastest growing areas of the UK economy. Tesco's organic sales grew by 39 % last year. Organic farm shops and box schemes are seeing similar rates of growth. The Soil Association and Organic Farmers and Growers have pledged to keep GM out of organic, so the public can continue to put their trust in organic food".

Peter Melchett added: "We warmly welcome the motion tabled in the House of Commons by the Conservative Front Bench, with all-party support, which states that 'consumers have the right to choose non-GM foods and that all foods containing GM material, or that come from livestock fed on GM, should be clearly labelled as such', and that 0.1 % GM 'should be the trigger point for GM labelling'. We hope it is not too late for the Government to change their pro-GM stance, which threatens public trust in organic farming and food."

The 70 companies supporting this initiative have a combined turnover of around £ 950,000,000. Together they directly employ 8,356 people throughout the United Kingdom. They work with at least 4,790 suppliers, who in turn provide jobs for thousands of people in the UK and abroad. Almost 40 million people (39,376,686) in the UK choose to buy some organic food each year.