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Swiss voters tighten curbs on GM farming

Swiss voters decided to tighten curbs on genetically modified (GM) farm products, a divisive topic in a country that already prohibits most of such technology from being used in agriculture.

Over 55 percent of participants in the national referendum voted for the initiative to place a five-year moratorium on all genetically modified animals and crops, except for use in certain research and to produce medicine.

Sunday's referendum was forced by environmentalists and consumer groups who easily gathered the 100,000 signatures they needed to oppose a law passed in January last year that would have permitted cultivation of genetically modified crops once they passed a "multi-year testing procedure."

The groups said the government's law did not go far enough. They claimed it threatened Swiss farmers while benefiting multinational agricultural business and would have forced products onto the market that people are not interested in buying.

The campaigners also needed to gain a majority in over half the country's 26 cantons for the initiative to be approved. Voters in all 26 cantons cast their ballots in favor of the ban.

Switzerland's cherished system of direct democracy means that the people's consent is required on any major issue.

Concerns about the safety of biotech foods for consumers and the environment have led many Europeans to resist the introduction of such products.

The EU, of which Switzerland is not a member, ended a six-year moratorium on accepting applications for new genetically modified foods in May last year. But governments in Germany and France, two of Europe's largest economies, both recently voted to uphold national bans on products they deem unsafe.

Swiss business groups argued that the moratorium should be rejected because it threatens the country's leading position as a center for gene technology research, and because it would work against the groups the referendum's supporters claim to be protecting.

The Zurich-based Swiss Institute for Business Cycle Research claimed approving a ban would hurt farmers by preventing them from using crops which are more pest and disease resistant.
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