EU consumers want more non-GMO foods, not more genetic engineering

Europe should focus on building the fast-growing non-GMO food market and not allow deregulation of products produced by risky new genetic engineering technologies like gene editing. This was the message of a recent statement published by Alexander Hissting, managing director of the German Association Food without Genetic Engineering (VLOG).

“The European Court of Justice (ECJ) 2018 ruling (on new genetic engineering methods) was and is an important milestone for Europe’s consumers, farmers and the food industry, especially for the rapidly growing organic and non-GMO sectors. The ongoing study of the EU Commission on the ruling must not be misused to weaken the rules. The aim must rather be the consistent implementation of the ruling—and thus more consumer protection instead of more genetic engineering,” Hissting said.

Hissting said European consumers do not differentiate between “old” and “new” genetic engineering, and are not misled by the repeated use of disguised terms such as “genome editing.”

EU consumers increasing want transparency and non-GMO labeling as surveys confirm.

“The steadily growing non-GMO sales also confirm the trend: in 2019, German consumers spent more than 11 billion euros on products with the Ohne Gentechnik/Non-GMO seal of VLOG. More and more European countries are now offering corresponding labelling options,” Hissting said.

Source: VLOG

To view source article, visit: https://www.ohnegentechnik.org/