mr president nowadays we are faced with a paradox
although a majority of european consumers have repeatedly stated that they are against gmos surveys show that they do buy gm foods when they are available in supermarkets
many consumers are just not aware that gm food is sold in europe or simply fall into the trap of illegible labels and end up not knowing what they buy
a possible solution would be to allow the absence of gmo in foods to be mentioned on the label
but currently there are no common provisions on gm-free labelling leaving the member states the freedom of choice
this leads to confusion of consumers and distortion of the internal market since while some countries have already introduced non-gm labelling provisions others refuse to allow this kind of information to be given
people want to make food choices based on their own values and not according to safety assessment studies
if we care about consumers concerns then we should be transparent all the way and give them a real choice
therefore i call on the commission to provide the legal framework for voluntary gm-free labelling at european level
