Open letter about EU’s assessment of genetically modified animals

Posted on 09/02/2012

Several NGOs working at EU and International level in various areas including Eurogroup have sent a joint letter to European Commissioner for Health & Consumers John Dalli. The letter comes in response to the publication by the European Food Safety Authority of a worrying technical guidance document that would start authorisations for food derived from genetically modified (GM) animals without thorough public debate or appropriate assessment of the impacts of such developments.

The letter has also been copied to European Commissioners for Agriculture, Environment and Fisheries and we call on them to intervene and halt these preparations until a broad assessment with all stakeholders has taken place to decide whether or not food products derived from GM animals are wanted within the European Union.

Representing a large section of the civil society, the initiators of this letter wish to raise first and foremost the concerns of European citizens over any introduction of goods derived from genetically modified animals. Previous consumer attitude surveys confirm this and show that the majority of EU citizens are consistently concerned about GM foods. The organisations also wish to bring the Commissioners’ attention to the fact that such a decision will have serious consequences on animal welfare and will irrevocably impact our societies both from socio-economic and environmental perspectives.