The regulation of the labeling of genetically modified foods has changed

In the past few days, the Parliament debated the issue on which the European Parliament will decide in the near future. The case could determine the direction of Europe’s food supply for decades, even irrevocably. Perhaps precisely because it is so obvious what the right decision is, unusually in domestic politics, all parliamentary parties have unanimously taken a position in favor of the ban, and it is expected that they will vote accordingly on October 25, when it will be decided what position our country should take in the union at the vote expected at the beginning of November ‒ the vice-president of the Hungarian Bioculture Association, who had previously been very active in the formation of a consensus, explained the events.

Titled associate professor Dr. Péter Roszík added: in the European Union, GMO-related debates are almost continuous, but related decisions are rarer, but all the more important. The lineup is obvious: genetically modified plants, seeds, etc. companies involved in its production are trying to use serious lobbying power to ensure that EU and national political decision-makers do not obstruct and control the distribution of their products. They are now trying to give new impetus to this endeavor by citing the fact that, according to their claim, the new, more accurate and precise gene modification technologies are significantly safer. According to them, this is a reason to re-regulate the issue, to be precise – because this is what we are talking about at the moment – for the complete abolition of control and labeling obligations in relation to these crops and products. At the same time, the same package of proposals would remove the decision from the jurisdiction of the member states, so we would not be able to oblige new types of GMO foods to be labeled at the national level either.