Biotech Updates

Ireland Supports Biotech

February 11, 2011

Ireland's Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, Brendan Smith, said that the government will support a number of proposals from the European Commission aimed at "authorizing the placing on the market of food, food ingredients and feed containing, consisting of, or produced from genetically modified maize and cotton." Ireland will also support EU Commission proposals to introduce a tolerance for the low level presence of GM varieties in imports of animal feed.

Minister Smith said that "it has been a matter of great concern to Ireland, in recent years, that there has been a severe disruption to trade of animal feed, caused by the delays in the authorization, by the EU, of GM varieties which have already been approved in the exporting countries." Over 90% of the protein feed for Ireland's livestock comes from soya and maize by-products imported from North and South America.

View the full press release at http://www.agriculture.gov.ie/press/pressreleases/2011/february/title,51105,en.html