High Biotech Council - Defining biotech-free production
The French High Biotech Council, in charge of advising the French Government on a wide range of biotech issues and composed of a scientific committee and a socio-economic committee, released its first report defining biotech-free production. The report includes recommendations to label products with "GMO-free" when containing less than 0.1 percent transgenic DNA for plant products, and for animal products derived from animals fed on less than 0.1 percent biotech feed. Based on this recommendation, the French government will prepare a decree to regulate "GMO-free" labeling in 2010, subject to public comment. The substance of this regulation will depend on the biotech and non-biotech coexistence framework the French government aims to set in 2010.