Russia’s Purposes New GMO Bill… Foods Containing GMO Ingredients Would Be Labeled Like Tobacco

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Russia’s Purposes New GMO Bill… Foods Containing GMO Ingredients Would Be Labeled Like Tobacco

November 1st, 2015

Awake Goy

Two Russian lawmakers propose to amend the Law on Consumers’
Rights. It would demand food producers attach large and readable
warnings on all GMO-containing products as well as detailed explanations
of
artificial additives in foodstuffs. ~ Related articles

According to the draft,
information about genetically-modified organisms in food products must
be printed in a large black font on a white background and the warning
must cover at least 15 percent of the overall surface of the retail
packaging. It must also be similar to the one used on tobacco products
in Russia and in many other countries.

The draft’s authors also
want producers to put detailed descriptions of all artificial additives
on food packaging. Currently, preserving agents, colorings and other
additives are only mentioned using abbreviated names.

The bill on obligatory warning of consumers was prepared by Lower
House MP Aleksey Zhuravlyov who represents the ruling United Russia
party and heads the nationalist Motherland party (Russian law allows
political parties to give parliament seats to non-members), and Senator
Valery Vasiliyev (Ivanovo Region).

Zhuravlyov told Izvestia daily
his bill wasn’t aimed at restricting freedom of choice for Russian
citizens, but only at better information about food that people eat and
give to their children.

“Almost all young people today are
suffering from allergies. We did not have such problems before.

“We are
what we eat and therefore people must be informed about the food that
they consume in order to make proper decisions.

“We are not banning
anything, because there is no reliable scientific proof that some
additives cause harm,” the lawmaker said.

“After all, we are talking about the health of the nation and for us, parliamentarians, the health of Russians is a top priority,” he added.

In late 2014, Russia approved tougher GMO labeling rules introducing
fines for companies selling products containing genetically modified
organisms without warning customers on the packaging.

The current
Russian law regulating GMO-containing foods requires a clearly visible
indication on all goods that contain 0.9 percent of genetically-modified
organisms by weight.

Since it was introduced in 2007, the share of GMO
in the Russian food industry has declined from 12 percent to just 0.01
percent, and currently there are just 57 registered food products
containing GMO in the country.

In September, Russian Deputy PM
Arkady Dvorkovich told an international conference on biotechnology that
the government planned to completely ban the use of any
genetically-modified organisms or parts thereof in the food industry.

However, Dvorkovich emphasized that there was a very clear line between
this decision and the development of science, medicine and some other
branches.

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