The Advertiser
PM blocks gene food rules
21oct99
PRIME Minister John Howard has blocked the announcement of a
strict labelling requirement for genetically modified foods.
CONCERNED about the potential backlash from farmers and
manufacturers who have warned the new regulations would cost
them up to $3 billion in the first year, Mr Howard has issued a
last-minute order for them to be reviewed.
Drafted by the nation's health ministers, the new regulations were
to have been announced by them tomorrow at a Canberra
summit.
A spokeswoman for Mr Howard told The Advertiser last night he
had contacted the leaders after becoming concerned the health
ministers' model for regulation would have serious implications for
jobs, exports and the cost of food.
"It's gone beyond health," she said.
"I can confirm that the Prime Minister has written to the chief
ministers and leaders on the issue. He is not seeking to say there
should be no labelling; he is simply seeking a
whole-of-government position."
But health ministers warned the intervention would cause
"resentment" and accused the Prime Minister of pandering to big
business.
ACT Health Minister Michael Moore described Mr Howard's action
as "very sad".
He said the Prime Minister was intervening when he "could not
possibly have had the time to understand the ramifications of this
issue".
"I think ministers will feel a significant resentment at an
intervention that's based on ignorance," he said.
It is understood a KPMG audit on the new guidelines has found
they could cost the food industry anywhere from $150 million to
$3 billion a year, with the Australian Food and Grocery Council
endorsing the latter estimate.
But South Australian Health Minister Dean Brown said those
costings were prepared "on a different basis from what the
ministers have agreed the process should be". "This is an attempt
by the food industry to create a fear campaign over the
procedures put down by the health ministers," he said.
"Any attempt to delay labelling will rightly anger consumers."
But Grains Council president Mr John Lush backed the Prime
Minister's intervention, saying a strict regime that compelled the
labelling of trace ingredients of flours, oils or sugars could cripple
producers.
"We agree with the Prime Minister – I think that's ridiculous," he
said.
A summit of health ministers decided in August that packaged
food should carry mandatory labelling warning of the presence of
any genetically modified ingredients or materials.
A working group of ministers and officials has since drafted a
tough set of guidelines, which demands full labelling of even trace
genetically altered elements.
The package as it stands puts the onus on suppliers to declare
genetically modified ingredients, and manufacturers to list them
on labels.
Australian Consumers Association spokesman Matt O'Neill said
the decision to endorse mandatory labelling had already been
announced to widespread community support, and any
perception of "backtracking" would incite consumer scepticism.
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