Romanian Senate Rejects Biotech Labeling Initiative

The Romanian Senate has rejected a proposal submitted by nine parliament members to impose special labeling on food products containing GM ingredients. The proposed law indicates that biotech foods should have the warning label “Attention this product contains genetically modified organisms”, covering 30 percent of the product.

According to the report by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), it is very unlikely that the law will be adopted in the country given the opposition by the Romanian Government and Senate. The Romanian Government, in its position paper, said that it recognizes all the EU bodies with responsibilities in the assessment of risks that biotech foods might have on human and animal health. The EU biotech regulations on traceability and labeling have also been transposed into Romanian legislation, thus adopting a parallel national legislation would breach the provisions of the EU Treaty.

 The proposal has been forwarded to the Chamber of Deputies, the Senate’s decisional chamber.

Read the USDA/FAS Report at .http://www.fas.usda.gov/