U.S. “Pressured to Ease Restriction of GMO Mark”

The government decided to ease regulations on genetically modified (GM) products, bending to the pressure of the U.S.

According to Korea Food and Drug Administration (KFDA), 10 delegates from the U.S. visited the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry and KFDA on the 21st and the 22nd respectively to request for the alleviation of the restrictions on the GM product indications.

The U.S. delegates strongly requested that the regulations be eased on genetically modified organisms (GMO) signs which are required to specify the GMO when GMO amount in the non-intentional mix exceeds over 3 percent.

A related official of KFDA requested to increase it to 5 percent as in Japan and demanded drastic simplification of the import process. However, the EU, which is very opposed to GMOs, requires GM labels on products with over 1 percent of non-intentional mix.

The U.S. delegation reportedly forced the Korean government to complete all the process of the amendment of the related regulations before the U.S. President George W. Bush`s visit to Korea during February 18-22, which is a very rude request diplomatically.

With regard to such unreasonable U.S. requests, a high official of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade called KFDA to ask to accept the U.S. request, saying "It is unusual that the U.S. delegation includes two ambassador level delegates. If trade conflicts occur, the export to the U.S. might be badly affected."

Consequently, the government held a working group meeting on the 23rd and reportedly decided to accept the request of the U.S.

A participant of the meeting said, "People agreed that there will be no serious problems in safety even after the amendment of the regulation to the degree that the U.S. requested."

In relation, a high official of the government said, "The regulation for the non-intentional mix is only symbolic since most of the U.S agricultural products are currently imported with the `GM product` labels."

However, the government`s move to ease the restrictions on GM products contradicts related laws, since even the current regulation aims to reduce the non-intentional mix to 1 percent, considering the accuracy of the examination and the international trend.

hanscho@donga.com