SWISS GM MORATORIUM INITIATIVE GAINS MOMENTUM

January 15, 2003
Checkbiotech
Daniel Rechsteiner

Swiss Farmer's Union (SBV) supports a people's initiative for a GM
moratorium. After heavy debate, the Swiss Chamber of Agriculture voted 46 to
36 with the intent of maintaining Switzerland's agriculture as GM-free. As a
result of the vote, the Swiss Chamber of Agriculture, responsible for giving
farmers a voice in Swiss politics, effectively backed a new initiative for a
five year moratorium on genetically modified organisms (GMO).

In October of last year, following the Swiss government's decision not to
implement a GM moratorium, the SBV, together with Pro Natura and Greenpeace,
publicized their agreement to start a people's initiative for a GM
moratorium.

According to the citizen's initiative for GM-free food, genetically modified
plants, plant tissues and seeds are not allowed to be imported, or put in
circulation during a five year moratorium period. The groups involved in the
GM-free initiative will start collecting votes probably in middle of
February.

A historical decision Herbert Krach, the manager of the Swiss Small Farmer's
Association said the voting outcome was "a historical decision." He also
noted that the union between environmental and animal protection groups, and
consumer organisations shows that the agricultural community is able to
establish necessary alliances in order to further its interests.

Simonetta Sommaruga, the President of the Swiss Consumer Protection Agency,
interpreted the Chamber's decision as a clear signal of a re-alignment
towards the consumers' choice. She noted that according to the most recent
surveys, 70% of Swiss consumers desire GM-free food. Roland Furrer, speaker
of the SBV, said that with yesterday's vote, "The SBV confirmed its present
commitment for a quality-oriented indigenous agriculture." He further stated
that there's no place for an application of genetically modified 
organisms (GMO) in Switzerland. "A negative decision would have been hard 
to justify to (the Swiss public)."

The decision of the agricultural chamber is a defeat for pro-business farmer
representatives such as Josef Leu, a member of the board of directors for
the gene research foundation Gen Suisse, and the Swiss food distributor
Migros. He viewed the initiative and vote as a needless constraint for
farmers and the Swiss economy.

The vote to sustain the initiative now requires pro-business representatives
of the farmers to take an active part in gathering signatures with the Swiss
Green Party, Pro Natura and Bio Suisse, all of whom favour a stronger
presence of organic and traditional farming methods as opposed to the
introduction of GMOs. Commenting on the situation, Karl Tschuppert, member
of the Swiss National Council said. "This is not a good starting point for
future decisions in the National Council."

However for Josef Kunz, also a member of the Swiss National Council, visions
GMO-free agriculture as the only chance to maintain our established position
within Europe.

Daniel Rechsteiner is a writer for Checkbiotech. He is currently studying
Biology at the University of Basel, Switzerland.