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Landmark decision in Atan ak Balon¡¯s case
 

BANKS MERGER (4) (REVISED)

BANKS MERGER

Black eye" Again?!

ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT

Speech deliver by WONG SING NANG, DAP Sarawak

FOOD PRODUCTS CONTAIN GMOs BE LABELLED

GMOs - Mandatory Labelling

GMOs Labeling: A must !

GMOs – MORATORIUM on GM Crops
 
 

FOOD PRODUCTS CONTAIN GMOs BE LABELLED 
 

(SIBU, 19th April 2000) 

The state government should consider to introduce legislation requiring all food products that contain genetically modified soy beans or corn or any genetically modified organisms (GMOs) to be labelled, in order to give consumers the ability to choose for themselves whether or not to purchase those products. 

Wong Sing Nang, who is the State Assemblyman for Pelawan and DAP State Chairman in a press release points out that in view of the uncertain health and ecological effects of GMOs, it is time for state government to take precautionary action. 

He said prompted by public concern over the uncertain health and ecological effects of GMOs, the European Union (EU) passed legislation in 1998, requiring all food products that contain genetically modified soy beans or corn to be labelled, in order to give consumers the ability to choose for themselves whether or not to purchase those products. 

?Several other countries, including Australia, Brazil, Japan and South Korea are now following suit?, he said. 

According to the report released by WORLDWATCH Institute, USA recently, worldwide, the area planted to transgenic crops jumped to more than twenty-fold in the last four seasons, from 2 millions hectares in 1996 to nearly 40 million hectares in 1999. In USA, Argentina and Canada, over half the acreage for major commodities like soybeans, corn and canola are planted in transgenics. These three nations account for 99 per cent of the global trangenic acreage pointing to limited global acceptance. 

Mr. Wong said, with a growing number of food manufactures and grocery chain in Europe taking products containing transgentic off the shelves, the market for these crops has been shrinking. American exports of soy beans to the European Union plummeted from 11 million tons in 1998 to 6 million tons in 1999. While American corn shipped to Europe dropped from 2 million tons in 1998 to 137,000 tons last year a combined loss of nearly one billion dollars in sales for American agriculture. 

The uncertain health and ecological effects of GMOs warrant us to take precautionary approach. 

Mr. Wong said in an article in December 1999 ?NATURE? magazine, it reports the insecticide produced by a widely planted variety of transgenic corn can accumulate - in its active form ? in the soil for extended period of time. The authors note that the effects on soil organisms and soil fertility are largely unknown, but potentially enormous. 

?The introduction of state legislation to compel the food companies mandatory to label their food products is a step in the right direction, so that the consumers are given a choice whether they want to buy GMOs food. Such choice is fundamental to make a right decision? he said.