The 0.9% commitment on GMO labeling must not be abandoned

People in Taiwan consume large amounts of soybean products, yet the self-sufficiency rate for domestic soybeans is extremely low, with the vast majority dependent on imports. Before civic groups raised questions, most people had no idea that more than 90% of the 2.3 million tonnes of imported soybeans were genetically modified; nor did the groups that have long consumed large quantities of GM soybeans understand that they might be exposing themselves and their families to unknown food safety risks.

Although GM foods such as soybeans and corn look no different from ordinary foods, through genetic modification technology, GM crops contain genes and protein components never seen before since ancient times. As a result, there has been considerable global attention and ongoing controversy over the health risks of eating GM foods, and people have launched grassroots self-rescue efforts. For example, in 2013, an ordinary American mother launched an anti-GM campaign on Facebook—the "March Against Monsanto"—calling on millions of people worldwide to take to the streets to protest the biopiracy, food safety hazards and environmental pollution committed by the GM giant multinational Monsanto.

Because GM crops cannot be distinguished by appearance and can only be identified through laboratory test results, civic groups have repeatedly called on the government to actively regulate and on manufacturers to self-police, and to properly label GM crops, so as to fulfill their duty of safeguarding consumers.

Inviting Monsanto to advise on Taiwan's food safety law?

At the beginning of this year (2014), the Legislative Yuan amended the "Act Governing Food Safety and Sanitation," formally incorporating into the relevant amendments rules on traceability and labeling of GM raw material sources, and also adding labeling requirements for previously poorly regulated bulk soybean foods. This move can be said to have boosted consumers' right to know, allowing people living in constant anxiety to finally see a glimmer of hope amid the food safety storm.

In early January, the Ministry of Health and Welfare announced in black and white: "(The Food and Drug Administration) reiterated that, having referenced relevant international standards and monitoring and management measures, it has reviewed our country's regulations on GM foods and now plans to amend the labeling rules for GM foods, changing the inadvertent contamination rate at which 'genetically modified' or 'contains genetically modified' must be labeled from 5% to 0.9%."

However, as four months have passed in the blink of an eye, the competent authority, the Ministry of Health and Welfare, has not only repeatedly delayed and failed to propose the relevant enforcement rules; the Food and Drug Administration has made matters worse by recently stating that although the EU, in order to protect farmers, has set the world's strictest standard, under which GM food accounting for more than 0.9% of total weight cannot be labeled as 'non-GM food'; Taiwan's soybeans are mainly imported, and currently GM food accounting for more than 5% of total weight cannot be labeled as 'non-GM food,' and whether it must follow the EU in the future still requires the agency to carry out a comprehensive assessment before a draft can be proposed.

That is to say, the conclusions reached at the beginning of the year based on experts, scholars and risk assessment meetings no longer count, and yet another comprehensive assessment has to be carried out?

Most deplorable of all is that senior figures from the notorious GM leader Monsanto also visited Taiwan at this time, claiming they would provide concrete suggestions to the Ministry of Health and Welfare regarding the enforcement rules of Taiwan's "Act Governing Food Safety and Sanitation," including the formulation of GM labeling and so on.

With the Ministry of Health and Welfare's inaction coming first and its close interaction with Monsanto coming after, in the eyes of those who can see clearly, how is this any different from "asking a ghost to fill a prescription"? Has the food safety authority already decided to abandon Taiwan's food safety and agricultural food autonomy?

We solemnly call on the Ministry of Health and Welfare to hold fast to the line of defense for the health and safety of the people of Taiwan, China, and never to yield to pressure from multinational conglomerates such as those of the US and Canada, and never, ever to surrender the hard-won legislative achievements of the "Food Safety Act"!