The Committee on Transparency, Governance, Control and Consumer Protection (CTFC) advanced the House Bill (PLC 34/2015) which removes from the food labels the symbol indicative of the presence of transgenic components.
According to information from the Senate Agency, the text advanced even in the face of controversy. This was because the measure was rejected in two Senate committees and approved in two, under criticism of the first vice president of the Senate, Cássio Cunha Lima (PSDB-PB), and several entities.
The text, authored by Luiz Carlos Heinze (PP-RS), determines the removal of the yellow triangle with the letter “T”, which today is obligatorily placed on food packaging containing any percentage of genetically modified organisms (GMOs). The project restricts the need for alert for products in which the transgenic substance exceeds 1% of the composition.
With the proposed change, the symbol that is on the packaging today should be replaced only by the words: “contains transgenic.” Likewise, food of animal origin derived from creations fed with transgenic ration will not be labeled, excluding the symbol that now facilitates the identification of these products, and information on the donor species of the gene will not be mandatory.
The subject was the subject of public hearings bringing together experts and representatives of civil society, who defended the maintenance of the seal in the current terms. The debates were initially promoted in response to objections from the Brazilian Institute for Consumer Protection (Idec), which considered the project offensive to the principles of precaution and consumer protection. The institute still feared a setback in relation to the right guaranteed by the Decree of Labeling of Transgenics, which established the traceability of the production chain to ensure information and product quality.
The Commission on Science, Technology, Innovation, Communication and Information Technology (CCT) rejected the bill under the report of Senator Randolfe Rodrigues (Rede-AP). Following the procedure, the Committee on Agriculture and Agrarian Reform (CRA) approved a favorable report by Senator Cidinho Santos (PR-MT), arguing that GMOs have been a reality worldwide for more than a decade and there is no evidence damage to health. The Social Affairs Committee (CAS) followed the contrary opinion of Senator Vanessa Grazziotin (PCdoB-AM) and the Committee on the Environment (CMA) voted positively a report also offered by Cidinho Santos.
This text was translated by machine from Brazilian Portuguese.