French High Council of Biotechnology Confirms Threshold of 0.1% Adventitious Presence Impractical

The French Association of Plant Biotechnology (AFBV) and the Scientific Committee of the High Council of Biotechnology share the same conclusion that the French government rule on 0.1% threshold for adventitious presence of GMOs would make the coexistence between GM and non-GM crops impossible. For this reason, the policy rate of 0.9% threshold level was agreed upon in Brussels. The decision on the 0.9% admixture does not reflect any issue on health risk but merely inform the public the presence of an unapproved GM event in the admixture.

Using a 0.1% threshold would involve the implementation of very stringent measures for seed companies, farmers, storage agencies, carriers, who also cannot guarantee that this threshold is not exceeded. There is also the issue of cost to maintain the threshold and difficulty in implementing co existence at a low threshold. The AFB thus requests the French government to abandon the 0.1% threshold and to follow the EU standard of 0.9%.

The original article in French can be seen at  http://biotechnologies-vegetales.com/presse/communiques.