Codex committee defers decision on biotech labeling
Thursday, May 12, 2005
Pesticide and toxic chemical news, Issue 90, Volume 7

The Codex Committee on Food Labeling on May 11 deferred a decision on draft guidelines for mandatory labeling of bioengineered food in response to opposition from the United States and four other countries, according to Consumers International.
CI, which sent a 12-member team to the meeting in Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia, to lobby for biotech labeling, reported that during debate 30 delegations spoke in favor and 18 remained silent.
"Despite the overwhelming support for labeling, the conclusion of the meeting was to defer a decision," CI said. "Discussions will continue over the year, but little other progress was made at the meeting."
The United States has kept biotech labeling bottled up in the CCFL for more than a decade. This year the U.S. argued that the committee should abandon work on the issue if it cannot make progress.
In addition to the United States, countries that tried to terminate discussion on biotech labeling guidelines included Argentina, Mexico, Paraguay and the Philippines, CI said. European Union member-states favored continuing discussion, along with Japan, Brazil, Malaysia, India, Kenya, Indonesia, Switzerland, Norway, New Zealand, Tunisia, Senegal, Swaziland, Panama, Turkey and Ghana.
"The interests of biotech companies are being put before consumer interests," commented Samuel Ochieng, CEO of Kenya's Consumers Information Network and head of the CI lobbying team. "However, we are encouraged that many countries are beginning to recognize the need for labeling, and next time we hope to move forward."