ABSTRACT Europe, in particular the European Union (EU), is far from self-sufficienct in its requirements for animal feedstuffs. Any eventual improvement in yield, quality, and nutritional balance of foods and feeds using genetic modification would be of interest to animal producers. A special EU directive has been in place since 1990 for the assessment of the safety of plants and plant products with novel traits. Under the recommendation of the Scientific Committees of the General Directorate on Health and Safety of the Consumer, the European Commission recommended the release of several plants and plant products into the environment and their use for feeding humans and farm animals up to 1999. However, consumers' attitudes are presently far from unanimous with regard to accepting these decisions. This leads to a cautious and diversified situation between countries in the application of the decisions on authorization, cultivation and use of these new products. A description of this situation, the moratorium initiated in 1999, and the expression of public concern is presented in this article. The response and the role of research is also discussed.
Implications
The European Union has issued its own regulations to assess the safety of genetically manipulated new plants for their use in human and animal feeds. Appropriate scientific committees specializing in plant biology and genetics and animal nutrition are issuing recommendations to the European Commission on the approval of the release of new plants, in particular protein plants mainly imported for animal feeding. However, insufficiently informed consumers still perceive this technology to be dubious, or strongly negative, depending on the country of the European Union. This has led to a moratorium on the dissemination and on the cultivation of new plants in Europe. The requirements for labeling, traceability, and monitoring of genetically modified plants and their derivatives have generated important consequences for international trade of feed commodities.
Key Words: Animals, Europe, Feeds, Transgenic Plants
© 2001, by the American Society of Animal Science. All rights reserved.
J. Anim. Sci. 2001. 79:E86-E90
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