Standards for non-GM products: Consumers' Foundation calls for stricter rules

The Consumers' Foundation tested 12 non-GM soybeans, corn and related products; GM content did not exceed the stipulated 5%, but was higher than the 1% standard of many countries, and it urged aligning with the EU by revising it to 0.9% and labeling all product items.

Wang Yuwen, assistant professor in the Department of Agronomy at National Taiwan University and member of the Consumers' Foundation's food committee, pointed out that because humans use too many pesticides, the United States began developing GM crops with insect-resistant or herbicide-resistant genes inserted, and since about the 87th year of the Republic of China era, GM crops have existed in the world; but whenever insect-resistant or herbicide-resistant genes are inserted, there is reproductive toxicity, which weakens organisms' reproductive capacity.

Chen Chih-yi, a director of the Consumers' Foundation, said that according to statistical data, the largest GM crops worldwide are soybeans, corn and cotton; the top 5 in planted area are the United States, Brazil, Argentina, Canada and India; in 2012, 81% of the world's planted soybeans, 35% of corn and 81% of cotton were GM crops.

Wang Yuwen said that Taiwan, in the 90th year of the Republic of China era, stipulated that products using soybeans and corn as raw materials and accounting for more than 5% of the final product's total weight should be labeled "genetically modified" or "contains genetically modified"; but the 5% standard was limited by the testing technology at the time, and now it can be more precise.

Chen Chih-yi said that the Consumers' Foundation found that the mandatory labeling standards for GM foods in Japan, Canada, Thailand, Japan and other countries are the same as Taiwan's, at 5% of the final product's total weight; in fact, many countries have already set standards at around 1%, for example Australia, New Zealand and Brazil, while the EU has set 0.9% and Sri Lanka 0.5%; the Consumers' Foundation called on the Ministry of Health and Welfare to revise the standard to 0.9%, consistent with the EU.