Ciarán Cuffe (Dún Laoghaire, Green Party)
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Question 62: To ask the Minister for Agriculture and Food if her attention has been drawn to the fact that many of the clothes worn today are made from genetically modified cotton, that cheese is made using genetically modified rennet, and that other substances, such as riboflavin, are genetically modified. [38449/05]

Mary Coughlan (Donegal South West, Fianna Fail)
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I am aware that genetically modified cotton is grown extensively in many countries, particularly in the US, India and China, and is widely used in the clothing industry. I am also aware that the enzyme chymosin, extracted from a GM organism, has for many years been used in the manufacture of cheese and that many GM micro nutrients, such as riboflavin, are used in food and feed. Trade in all of these products on a worldwide basis has become commonplace. The rules governing the production and use of GMOs within the EU are set down in legislation that has been jointly adopted by the Council of Ministers and the European Parliament and is binding on all member states.

Legislation governing the control of GMOs in Ireland comes under three Departments and agencies under the aegis of some of those Departments. My Department has responsibility for approval of the cultivation of authorised GM crops and of GM animal feed. Legislation governing GM foods is a matter for the Minister for Health and Children and the Food Safety Authority of Ireland, while that of the deliberate release of genetically modified organisms into the environment comes within the remit of the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government and the Environmental Protection Agency.