Japan to ban unapproved GMO imports from 2001
Date: 24-Jan-00
Country: JAPAN
The ministry will monitor imports at its quarantine stations nationwide
and any goods failing the safety examination will be destroyed or
shipped back to their country of origin, he said.
Violation of the new regulation will incur penalties of up to one year
imprisonment or up to 100,000 yen fine, he said.
The move is in response to complaints from consumer groups that some GM
crop varieties have slipped past the government's safety checks and
found their way into food products in Japan, the world's largest food
importer.
Japan started importing GM crops in 1996. So far it has approved 29 GM
varieties of seven crops - corn, soybeans, rapeseed, potatoes, cotton,
tomatoes and sugar beet - as safe for human consumption.