Memorandum to Czech Presidency and Ten Test - EEB

EEB Memorandum to the Czech EU Presidencyquantity of produce yielded from them. It should be common sense thatcontrolling the contamination at the source will incur - by magnitudes - muchlower costs than controlling the vast and diverse amounts of products instead,especially considering commercial seeds are already a highly controlled productand seed producers will have to test for the presence of GM traces anyway.Thus, even if seed costs were doubled, their share would be minimal comparedto the overall costs of the final product.Moreover, by undermining the market of non-GM products, the geneticcontamination of conventional and organic products will destroy businesses andthreaten jobs in the agri-food sector, which in the past has already suffered toomuch from food scandals to risk again going against consumer trust. From astrictly economic perspective, it appears that costs and risks of GM productionare arbitrarily shifted to farmers, food processors and retailers to the benefit ofthe seed industry.Therefore EEB calls upon the Presidency to work for strict purity standardsfor GM contamination of seeds, legally and technically established at thereliable detection limit of 0.1% as the European Parliament, in its owninitiativereport on co-existence, has also proposed.7.12. Stockholm Convention On PopsPersistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) have been called the “worst of the worst”environmental contaminants. PCBs, dioxins (as a synonym for polychlorinateddibenzo-p-dioxins and dibenzofurans, PCDD/Fs), DDT and eight other chemicalsare identified for action under the global Stockholm Convention on POPs, whichentered into force in 2004.The Convention is designed to add other chemicals that are persistent, bioaccumulative and toxic and calls on countries to adopt a precautionary approach.While the Stockholm Convention targets a relatively small number of chemicals -known as the "dirty dozens"- it has the potential to influence over 158 countriesand the European Union, which are parties to the treaty.POPs are a priority for Europe and for EEB. They are a central focus of REACHlegislation and many POP chemicals are also subject to the IPPC and otherdirectives tackling pollutants of air, water and waste. Many pesticides and someof the RoHS substances are also POPs.Even with these European efforts, global action is necessary to protect the planetfrom POPs. The process for adding “new POPs” to be prevented is at the heartof the Stockholm Convention. Seven of the twelve chemicals under review wereproposed by European countries or the EU. There has been strong resistance39