"Label GMO products" say farmers

"To be a real choice this must include labelling food with any detectable level of GMs and food produce from animals fed GM feed."
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'Label GM food products', say farmers
Sally Williams
Western Mail (front page of 'Country & Farming' section), 8 September 2009

http://www.walesonline.co.uk/countryside-farming-news/farming-news/2009/09/08/la...

WELSH farmers are calling for "Frankenstein food" GM products to be labelled, as a survey published today raises fresh concerns about the technology.

Philip Bevan of Great House Farm, a 220-acre organic farm in Abergavenny, Monmouthshire, said Welsh consumers have every right to know exactly what the food they eat contains, as a survey by Consumer Focus Wales shows that almost a quarter of them (24%) think GM should be banned from sale in the UK.

Mr Bevan said, "As organic farmers, we would always avoid GM food at all costs.

"We believe in pesticide and herbicide-free food.

"We think it is definitely the healthier option but would welcome more research into the benefits of organic food to the body.

"The trouble is that more and more pesticides are being brought into the food chain all the time and who knows what untold damage they are doing?"

As GM crops become more commonplace around the world, CFW warned that it is likely to become a hotly-debated topic in future.

And Haf Elgar a campaigner, for Friends of the Earth Cymru agreed that any traces of GM should be pointed out clearly to the consumer, as soon as possible.

"Clear food labelling is a must in order to give consumers a choice and make sure that we all know what's in the food we eat," she said.

"But to be a real choice this must include labelling food with any detectable level of GMs and food produce from animals fed GM feed.

"Friends of the Earth supports establishing a Sustainable Agriculture Research Council to provide independent research into the effects of GM crops and food, instead of relying on research largely done by the same biotech companies that develop GM food.

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