Eastern Europe's anti-GM food movement grows
14/11/2005-

Most Polish and Russian consumers do not want to eat food made from genetically modified ingredients, says new poll, as the anti-GM movement gathers pace in Eastern Europe.
Around 76 per cent of Polish consumers said they didn’t want to eat any food containing GM ingredients, according to a PBS opinion poll commissioned by Greenpeace. The news follows an earlier study by Russia’s largest public opinion research body, VCIOM, that 95 per cent of Russians aware of GM ingredients said they were either opposed to them or seriously concerned by them.
The surveys are an important sign that public opinion in Eastern Europe is moving towards the widespread GM scepticism already present in Western Europe.
Research published by the European Commission earlier this year says that only 14 per cent of the European population believes GM food is safe.
Greenpeace said that more than 450 food companies across Russia had now adopted a GM-free policy, including international giants such as Nestlé and Coca-Cola.
Consumer rejection of GM food has become more of a problem since January this year, when Russia introduced new labelling laws forcing producers to state any GM ingredients used on product labels.
The government has also spent 2005 discussing new regulations for GM ingredients. In May this year, GM soy, maize, potato, white beet and rice were still allowed in Russia.
But, Russia’s Soy Union said it now supported a moratorium on growing GM soy in Russia. “There is currently no commercial production of genetically modified soy on the territory of the Russian Federation,” said union president Anatoly Ustyuzhanin to Greenpeace.
The campaign group, however, said some multinational retailers were guilty of double standards, giving GM-free guarantees on food in Western Europe but not on products in the East.
A recent report commissioned by Agricultural Biotechnology Europe (ABE) said the European Union’s anti-GM stance would become unsustainable as it becomes ever harder and more expensive to ensure sourcing of non-GM ingredients.
A major problem is the declining global supply of non-GM ingredients in the key soybean and derivative sector, notably now Brazil has begun planting GM soybeans. GM soybeans accounted for 23 per cent of total production in Brazil in 2004.
“To date, consumers have rarely been given the option of a choice between GM and non-GM alternatives of the same product or faced price differentials between the two,” said ABE.

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