Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/1999-12-13-Speech-1-178"
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"en.19991213.11.1-178"2
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"Mr President, I should like to begin by agreeing with Mrs Jackson that we are sinking, perhaps not as fast as the Titanic, but I understand this building is built on very soft ground. It may happen long after we have left, but I am sure it will eventually sink into the mire it was built upon. It has already flooded on the ground floor during construction. I expect that will happen again before too long.
Getting back to the matter at hand, Mrs Jackson has essentially asked all the right questions in the right order. This proposal was supported unanimously in committee because we believe something has to be done, and done quickly, to meet consumer demands for labelling and to meet consumers' justified concerns about knowing what they are eating. The consumer has a right to know. The Commission has made a brave attempt to put something on paper, limited in scope though it is, to help the consumer. I will support that.
But how practical is it? Is it going to work? The 1% limit on any ingredient – which I and others have been informed is already being exceeded by supermarkets etc. in terms of their requirements for food – is also a limit which I am told can quite easily be met by anyone wishing to avoid having to label foods containing GMs, because of adventitious contamination, whatever that means. It therefore seems to me that an early review is going to be extremely necessary. The net result of this regulation will be, when we bring it in, that the vast majority of food in the supermarket will be exactly as it is now – unlabelled – because the vast majority of food may contain a small amount of GM, below the limit. That will be what happens.
We are making a brave attempt here. The Commission is making a brave attempt here. I would like it to clarify exactly what the scope of its proposal is. I am told that at the moment it only applies to those products derived from soya and maize. I would like the Commission to tell me just how practical it thinks its measures are going to be and how quickly it will be able to change them if they do not work."@en1
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