A new legal opinion shows that the EU's planned new genetic engineering rules would shift the safety tests and liability risks for plants produced using new genetic engineering and the products derived from them from biotechnology companies to the food industry.
A new legal opinion prepared by the Berlin law firm GGSC on behalf of the Association Food without Genetic Engineering (VLOG) shows that the shift of liability risks from the genetic engineering companies (first distributors) to the food companies is a consequence of the EU Commission's plans to deregulate genetic engineering that has so far been ignored.
Genetic engineering deregulation: industry and consumers pay the price
‘The EU Commission's genetic engineering plans are not ‘business-friendly’, as is often claimed. In reality, the Commission is shifting costs and risks from one economic sector to another in a highly unfair manner. This is completely unacceptable and could become a major problem for the entire EU food industry, not just for the organic and ‘without genetic engineering’ sectors,’ says VLOG.
The summary of the report states, among other things, that
The deregulation of NGT products in category 1 by the planned EU Regulation on plants and food and feed produced from plants obtained with certain new genomic techniques (NGT Regulation) will lead to a shift in the implementation of safety assessments from genetic engineering law to novel food law and thus to food companies. Or it will lead to genetically modified food being placed on the market as Category 1 NGT products without any safety testing at all. Consumers and food companies will have to bear the risks associated with this. This is because food companies are liable for the safety of their products. They bear the burden of proof for unrecognisable development risks.’ (The legal opinion of the Berlin law firm GGSC on behalf of VLOG can be found here.)
Liability claims are hardly enforceable: there is no insurance for genetic engineering risks
The report also states: ‘It is questionable whether food companies can recover any damages from the developers of unsafe NGT products in the event of liability. The enforceability of a claim for damages depends on whether the developers are available and financially capable. Many NGT products are developed by small biotech companies
tech companies, often in Asia. Only in a few EU countries did the developers of NGT products also bear liability for unrecognisable development risks. Insurance companies only provide cover for damage caused by conventional food;
benefits for damage caused by GMOs, including NGT products are excluded from the insurance conditions.’
Minimum requirements for new genetic engineering legislation
Any new genetic engineering legislation must ensure that all NGT products may only be placed on the market after their safety has been thoroughly tested and their usability in the food industry has been approved by the authorities, that all NGT products food chain (Editor's note: this is the regulation in the current EU genetic engineering law) and that NGT products may only be placed on the market if it is guaranteed that biotechnology companies are liable for any damage caused by their products.’
‘It is obvious that those who develop and sell genetically modified products must be liable in the event of damage and must actually pay compensation. Biotechnology companies must take responsibility for the safety of their products. The existing legal loophole must be closed, for example, by a mandatory liability fund into which all manufacturers of new genetically modified plants must pay. In addition, risk assessment and labelling must remain mandatory for all types of genetically engineered products, including NGT,’ said VLOG board member Christoph Zimmer, managing director of Bioland Baden-Württemberg.
Novel genetic engineering as “novel food”
Special requirements apply to food companies that market so-called novel foods. They are responsible for safety tests and official registration as approved ‘novel food’. According to the European Commission's legislative proposal, the Novel Food Regulation will apply to many products of new genetic engineering that are no longer subject to genetic engineering law (the so-called ‘NGT1’ products). This will result in completely new obligations for the food industry.
However, because the Commission's proposal only provides for labelling for seeds, but not for food, this obligation is very difficult to implement. Often, food companies may not even be aware that they are placing an ‘NGT1’ product on the market. This means that they could unknowingly violate the Novel Food Regulation and place such products on the market without the appropriate authorisation. At the same time, the actual developers of the ‘NGT1’ plants, namely the biotechnology companies, will no longer need to carry out any risk assessment for products from new genetic engineering in the future, according to the EU Commission.
Author: Karin Heinze
Source: VLOG PR, GGSC report
Comments