From Sydney Morning Herald - Australia
Ministers likely to maintain plan for GM food
Date: 22/10/99

By MARK RAGG

Health ministers are set to reject a last-minute intervention by the
Prime Minister into the genetically modified food debate. 

Mr Howard lobbied all State premiers and Territory chief ministers on
Wednesday night, urging them to change their decision to demand
mandatory labelling of GM foods. 

But health ministers yesterday said Mr Howard's argument was based on an
"appalling" study by consultants KPMG, based on false premises, and that
they would commission their own report of the costs of labelling. 

South Australia's Health Minister, Mr Dean Brown, said the KPMG study,
which estimated the cost of compliance with mandatory labelling to be $3
billion, was "a bit of a sham". 

Mr Brown said it was essential that a new costing was done, based on
what the ministers wanted, which was a system of labelling based on
certificates of compliance. 

The KPMG report was commissioned by the Australia New Zealand Food
Authority before the health ministers confirmed their decision on how
labelling was to be implemented, and not altered despite new
information, sources say. 

The ACT Health Minister, Mr Michael Moore, said the decision had to be
deferred until proper costings were carried out, and he had contacted a
number of health ministers who agreed. 

Some ministers were pushing for a "crash through" approach of committing
themselves to mandatory labelling. 

Others believed that the Council of Australian Governments would
overrule any decision without an adequate economic analysis. 

Mr Howard is pushing for COAG (Council of Australian Governments) to
take control of the labelling issue, demanding a "whole of government
approach which would consider the plan's impact on exports, food prices
and jobs". 

Last month, the health ministers decided on a hard-line approach to the
labelling of GM foods, which they were set to ratify at today's meeting. 

Under their guidelines, they decided to demand that:

  a.. Wholly modified foods would have to be identified in the brand
name.
  b.. Processed foods would need their GM components clearly marked in
the ingredients list.
  c.. GM fresh fruit and vegetables would be labelled.
  d.. Highly refined foods such as sugars and oils will be included in
the labelling regulations.
  e.. Unpackaged foods would need to be signposted if they contained GM
ingredients.
  f.. Manufacturers would have 12 months to change labels. 
These decisions were to be in legislation, rather than the softer option
of industry self-regulation.