Proposed plans for the mandatory labelling of GM foods do not go far enough, according to the Academy of Medicine. In a submission to the Environment and Food Bureau, the academy argued that the limit on labelling for GM content should be reduced to 1% from 5%.

The academy admitted that it would be technically impossible to label all food items accurately as to GM content. It argued, however, that while the regulations may initially exclude pre-packaged or processed food, they should aim to cover all food products on the market within one or two years after the laws were passed.

Academy president Dr Leong Che-hung maintained that the laws should "cover everything, all food with a GM element. The public should have the right to know. This should be the principle and we will work out the details later."

The government had set a period of three months for public consultation on GM labelling, and this period ended yesterday. It could well take several more months, according to the bureau, to complete a full analysis of all the views submitted.