Reuters | November 16, 1999 | By Michael Byrnes
SYDNEY - Asia, the biggest eatery in the world, is, according to this story, beginning to be swept by the global storm over genetically modified (GM) food as apathy bows to rising consumer concern and regulators chew on billion dollar decisions.
Japan and Australia, regional leaders in GM regulation, have, the story adds, both recently decided to label GM foods. But both are also showing signs of nerves over the details of GM control.
One Australian bureaucrat advising the government on GM issues was quoted as saying, "The cost is that you could lose a market - billions of dollars - overnight if you make the wrong decision. There is a need to find a reasonable balance between commodities and consumers where you can lie in bed at night and be sure that you will not glow in the dark."
The story notes that Australia's A$22 billion (US$14 billion) a year farm goods trade and its free-trade government see deeper issues than whether corn flakes on supermarket shelves should carry warning labels.
As World Trade Organisation talks loom on agricultural trade liberalisation, fears are dawning that large chunks of the hundred billion dollar-plus world food trade will move to non-tariff barriers - and GMs could be the perfect ploy.
Australia and New Zealand authorities, after first delighting the consumer movement by edging toward stringent labelling of food with even a trace of GM content, last month postponed a decision on specifics.
Mara Bun, Australia's fiercest consumer advocate, was quoted as saying, "It's a backward step. It's very much a ... breathing space, which means marketplace inertia will dominate. This is a business as usual signal and very disappointing."
The Australian Food and Grocery Council was pleased, describing it as "another critical reality check for effective and efficient labelling regulations."
The story goes on to say that exporter Australia, which sells bulk food mostly to Asia, faces make-or-break decisions in billion dollar industries including meat, wheat, sugar, and canola oil, executives say. All remain GM-free but are poised to move to GM production, canola in 2001, the others if competing countries make a move first.
So far Australia has approved only one major commercial GM crop, cotton.
In November it called for public comment on 13 GM commodities undergoing safety assessment, including corn, cotton, canola, sugar beet, potatoes, maize and high oleic soybeans.
Japan, which survives on imported food, faces the dilemma of balancing consumer demands with GM productivity gains.
So far Japan has approved 22 varieties of six GM crops for import and sale, including corn, soybeans, rapeseed or canola, potatoes, cotton and tomatoes. Authorities are discussing approval of canola, cotton, sugar beet and corn.
