Summary
Gene technology has recently assumed greater interest and significance for consumers, environmentalists, industry, regulatory agencies and policy makers as the first foods produced by gene technology have reached the market. Real or perceived concerns about the long term safety to both people and the environment of these foods, combined with an uncertain regulatory environment, have prompted calls in many countries for regulatory monitoring and controls on the development and marketing of genetically modified foods.
Governments, and international standardising agencies such as the Codex Alimentarius Commission, have been cautious in their approach to regulation of gene technology. The issues are complex and require careful debate and deliberation before pragmatic policies can be developed that assure both consumer and environmental safety, provide appropriate information to enable consumers to make informed choices, and prevent deceptive practices in trade.
Regulatory measures relating to products of gene technology that are traded must be based on science and risk assessment. In terms of the WTO SPS Agreement, there is a strong imperative for countries to ensure that national regulatory measures relating to products of gene technology are well-founded on science and risk assessment. Labelling considerations need to be addressed as part of the wider issue of risk communication with regulators, producers, manufacturers and public interest groups all having a role in provision of information to the population at large. Mandatory labelling is appropriate and justified where a genetically modified food is not substantially equivalent to a conventional food, or where the product may pose particular risks. This paper reviews the various international agreements that are relevant to the determination of national policies in the use of agricultural gene technology.
Introduction
Agricultural production is changing from emphasising yield and cost to meeting increasing market demands for enhanced safety, quality and variety on the one hand and minimising negative environmental impacts on the other. Gene technology has thepotential to address some of these demands by introducing beneficial characteristics that are not available by conventional breeding. In addition to changing existing agricultural systems and markets, gene technology will also open new markets for agriculture in the care of animal and human health and the production of new materials like polymers.
The first foods produced using agricultural gene technology that entered world trade were soybeans modified for herbicide resistance being exported from the USA to Europe and Australia during 1996. Other products now being commercialised overseas include: modified maize; canola; tomatoes; potatoes; carnations; squash; tobacco and cotton. These commercial releases, combined with more than 3,600 field trials approved internationally, foreshadow the wave of products from agricultural gene technology about to break onto international markets.
New Zealand will not be isolated from these developments. Freer trade in agriculture arising from the GATT Uruguay Round will open the New Zealand domestic market to products of agricultural gene technology imported from overseas. Further, New Zealand has invested heavily in research and development of agricultural gene technology to ensure it can partake of the potential benefits and remain competitive in world markets. Realising these benefits will require New Zealand to develop a harmonised national and international regulatory environment appropriate to the perceived and actual risks of the technology.
New Zealand must be seen to be fair in developing regulations governing trade in the products of agricultural gene technology. In particular, we must not impose on others conditions that New Zealand would not expect to have imposed on us when products developed here by gene technology are exported overseas. Relevant international agreements that must be considered include the World Trade Organization (WTO) Agreements on Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures SPS) and Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT), any Codex standards that might be established relating to labelling of foods derived from gene technology, and the Biosafety Protocol being developed under the Convention on Biological Diversity.
This paper examines the principles of international trade in the products of agricultural gene technology, their significance for New Zealand, and how they could be integrated into a wider framework that considers broader issues surrounding the regulation and commercialisation of gene technology.
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