Photo: BMLFUW
Measures to reduce GMO pollution in seed
As a consequence of the pollution of rape and maize seed with GMO in 2000 and 2001, due to the lack of corresponding legal provisions in the EU, and in order to improve legal security and transparency for seed providers and farmers in Austria,
the Federal Minister for Agriculture, Forestry, Environment and Water Management adopted the Ordinance on Genetically Modified Seed (Saatgut-Gentechnik-Verordnung) in December 2001.One central goal of the Ordinance is to avoid the risks of GMO pollution on Austria's cultivated area and thus to lower the risk of GMOs in harvested products, in particular in organic farming, in the best possible way.
The Austrian Ordinance on Genetically Modified Seed is unique insofar as it does not only provide for regulations concerning GMO strains as such, but also prohibits the marketing of GMO-polluted seed. The prohibition is directed to the marketers and/or sellers of seed in Austria.
So far there has been no legally binding and uniform regulation concerning the pollution with GMOs that would apply to all 15 EU countries. If you buy seed outside Austria, you can therefore not be sure that provisions comparable to those of the Austrian Ordinance on Genetically Modified Seed are met!
The implementation of the Ordinance on Genetically Modified Seed and the target-oriented precautionary and preventive measures carried out by the Austrian Agency for Health and Food Safety by order of the Agriculture Ministry, have so far resulted in no seed produced in Austria showing any GMO pollution.
Contact:
For legal questions and questions relating to the international context: Federal Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, Environment and Water Management, Division III/9, Mr. Heinz-Peter Zach, phone:01/71100 / 2795, email: heinz-peter.zach@lebensministerium.at
For technical questions:
Österreichische Agentur für Gesundheit und Ernährungssicherheit, Institute for Seed, Mr. Leopold Girsch (Austrian Agency for Health and Food Safety), phone: 01/73216 / 4500, email: leopold.girsch@ages.at
Links of topic:
23.10.2008, Lebensministerium III/9