On January 25th at 10:30 p.m. on ORF 2
Vienna (OTS) – Dieter Bornemann will present an “Eco Special” designed by Martin Steiner on the topic of “Genetic engineering? Yes, of course. Agriculture between science and marketing”:
If you live in Austria, there is a high probability that you have been eating genetically modified foods for decades – even if they are labeled “organic” or “GMO-free”. This is made possible by an exception in the European Union for an old form of genetic engineering that has been used for almost 100 years. But nobody likes to talk about it, because these two labels have long since become a billion-dollar business in the German-speaking world. A further exception to this labeling requirement is now being discussed in the EU: According to the EU Commission’s plans, the so-called CRISPR/Cas genetic scissors should also remain label-free and could thus endanger the image of “GMO-free Austria”.
In Seibersdorf near Vienna, the DNA of seeds is fundamentally changed through radioactive irradiation or chemical treatment. A method that the European Court of Justice has officially classified as “genetic engineering”, but which it has also exempted from the labeling requirement for genetically modified foods. On the one hand, because this old form of genetic engineering has not posed any danger for decades, and on the other hand, because it is now impossible to determine which plants and products contain this genetic engineering today. Also in those that are very successfully marketed as “organic” and “GMO-free”.
The new breeding method CRISPR/Cas – the “genetic scissors” – is a much smaller intervention in the genetic material than mutation breeding. The plants that emerge from it are impossible to distinguish from naturally bred species. Nevertheless, the EU Commission’s proposal to exempt this new form of plant breeding from the strict requirements for genetic engineering in Europe is causing alarm among organic farmers, seed breeders and NGOs such as Greenpeace, who do not shy away from images of an uncontrollable biological danger in the discussion. Has the fear of genetic engineering in Austria obscured the view of the scientific facts?