Swiss activists still seek ban on GMO testing
Date: 07-Oct-02
Country: SWITZERLAND
The lower house of parliament voted late against adopting a temporary ban when it narrowly approved draft legislation regulating the use of GM products.
Opponents had pushed for a moratorium to allow more time to gauge any potential risks that scientifically engineered foods might pose to the environment or to people who eat them.
A coalition of environmentalists and farmers who want Switzerland to remain GM-free said they would start early next year with the process for getting a binding referendum on a 10-year moratorium.
"The main objective is to prevent the commercial application (of GM products)," the organisers said. "Swiss agriculture wants to remain free of genetic technology, and this is the wish of the large majority of its customers."
The legislation is still awaiting final parliamentary approval once the upper and lower houses of parliament can iron out differences between the versions they have adopted.
The law lays down criteria on when GM projects can move from the laboratory out into the field and tightens labelling of foods that contain GM ingredients.
Swiss researchers and industry hailed parliament's rejection of a moratorium, which they said would have put unacceptable restrictions on their work.
Basel-based Syngenta, the world's biggest provider of products that help farmers fight pests and weeds, heaved a sigh of relief at the vote after an emotional debate. "We were clearly concerned at Syngenta because we wanted good conditions in our home base, Switzerland. However, our big concern was about the effect on real research here," said Arthur Einsele, the company's point man on the issue.
"A moratorium would have negatively influenced research in Switzerland and that was our main concern," he added.
"It would have been the first de jure moratorium in Europe."
In a 1998 referendum, Swiss voters rejected by a two-to-one margin a measure that would have outlawed production of transgenetic animals and forbidden the release of genetically altered plants and animals into the environment.
