South Korea breaks GMO taboo with first corn deal
The Environmental News Network posted an article announcing that South Korea will begin importing genetically modified corn from the US for manufacturing starch and sweeteners. This will be the first time South Korea has imported GM products, as there is an enormous opposition for them in the country. According to the article, trade sources say this move was economical, as conventional corn costs around $50 a ton more than genetically modified corn.
C.S. Prakash
South Korea breaks GMO taboo with first corn deal
Environmental News Network
February 26, 2008
SEOUL (Reuters) - South Korea has for the first time bought genetically-modified corn for food, risking a backlash from consumer groups to secure cheaper grains.
With record high global wheat, corn and other food prices making governments increasingly anxious about staple supplies and quickening inflation, the debate over the merits and safety of GMO crops is taking on new urgency.
On Tuesday South Korea, one of only two countries in Asia to stick with more expensive non-GMO corn for food use, said it will import 50,000 tons of U.S. genetically-altered corn in May for manufacturing starch and sweeteners.
Trade sources said the decision was economic. Corn that has not been modified costs around $50 a ton more than the genetically-altered variety, an important factor when corn prices have more than doubled in the last two years.
But it has drawn ire from consumer groups, who say it will expose consumers to possible health risks, echoing European resistance to what lobby groups there call "Frankenstein foods."
"If the companies go ahead with the move the groups will join hands and carry out campaigning and boycott products from those manufacturers," said spokesman Kim Dae-hoon of ICOOP, South Korea's largest consumer lobby group.
