| Manufacturers of genetically modified products are asked to repent Russia is trying to catch up with Europe, at least in the area of control over genetically modified goods. Starting today, the Federal Service for Surveillance on Consumer Rights Protection and Population Welfare is tightening the rules for labeling food products that contain more than 0.9% genetically modified sources (GMI). This is exactly the “threshold” that was established by the EU countries back in November last year. Despite the fact that there is no direct evidence that GMI may be potentially hazardous to health, Europeans decided to play it safe and warn consumers, just in case. In Russia, until June 1, only those manufacturers whose products contained more than 5% of GMI were subject to mandatory “self-exposure.”
Although the formal tightening of control over GMI was an expected event - the head of the federal service and part-time chief sanitary doctor of the country, Gennady Onishchenko, signed a corresponding order several months ago - on the eve of the change in the rules for labeling goods, heated debate flared up again. Mr. Onishchenko himself claims that the requirement to label genetically modified products was introduced in order “to make the consumer his ally, so that there is informed consent to the consumption of such products.” According to him, so far only 10-15% of manufacturers place information on the packaging about the presence of GMI in their products. Meanwhile, supporters of GMI (mainly from among manufacturers and sellers of food products) call these measures unnecessary, and opponents, on the contrary, insufficient.
In particular, ecologists from the Greenpeace Russia organization believe that the new rules will not change anything on the “transgene” market and, importantly, will not make Russians more informed. “The resolution in the version in which it was presented to us is unlikely to affect producers using GMI,” Natalya Olefirenko, coordinator of the genetic campaign of Greenpeace Russia, said in a conversation with a correspondent of the Vremya Novostey newspaper, “since all past flaws". Thus, according to a representative of Greenpeace, the resolution of the chief sanitary doctor does not explain from the volume of which the established 0.9% will be calculated - the finished product or raw materials. In addition, it is not known who will verify the truth of the GMI share declared by the manufacturer. According to Ms. Olefirenko, in Russia there are neither laboratories nor methods that can quickly determine the presence of “transgenes” in food products.
According to activists from the Russian representative office of Greenpeace, in order to truly “make the consumer your ally,” it is necessary to warn in advance which manufacturers use modified raw materials. And the “greens” decided to take the first step in this direction themselves, without waiting for a decision from the authorities. Last weekend they published a consumer guide called "How to Avoid Products with Genetically Modified Ingredients?" As Natalya Olefirenko said, the publication details 300 companies that use “transgenic” products or, conversely, have abandoned them. All enterprises are divided into three lists. In red are those who use GMI, in green are those who do not use modified raw materials. The orange group included companies that gave the “greens” written guarantees that they would abandon “transgenes” in the near future.
Let us remember that transgenic products are those that contain raw materials with an altered gene pool. GMIs are created by changing the genetic structure of plants so that they become, for example, more resistant to drought, disease and insects. Currently, Russia allows the use of six varieties of transgenic corn, two varieties of potatoes, three soybeans, and one each of sugar beet and rice. However, all of the above crops are imported. The cultivation of GM plants is still prohibited in our country. Anna ShPAK |
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