GMO-free news from Serbia

2012-01-24 | permalink

Greens of Serbia protest demanding ban on GMOs

Supporters and members of the Greens of Serbia party staged a protest in front of the House of the Serbian parliament on Thursday in Belgrade. They are demanding that parliament should soon include in its agenda a bill to ban the production, trade, import and transport of genetically modified organisms. The party filed its motion signed by 36,000 citizens and a draft bill to the parliament on October 26, 2011. Party leader Ivan Karić warned that protests would be radicalized unless the bill is included in the parliament agenda soon.

2011-12-28 | permalink

Serbian Green Party requests response to draft law banning GMO

The Greens of Serbia have requested parliament’s response to a petition and draft law on genetically modified organisms (GMO) which were submitted in October. The Greens of Serbia have repeated that the draft law banning production, sale, import and transportation of GMO in Serbia’s territory was submitted on October 26. Since that day “there has been no indication that Serbian budget users who sit in parliament will open the topic that is of vital interests of all citizens”.

2011-10-31 | permalink

Greens of Serbia submit petition to ban GMO

The Greens of Serbia representatives submitted a petition to the Serbian parliament, requesting ban of genetically modified food. They also submitted a draft law banning genetically modified organisms. “With the petition, which was signed by more than 35,000 citizens, the Greens of Serbia request that the state support the ban of production, import, use and sale of GMO,” Greens of Serbia leader Ivan Karić told reporters.

2011-01-17 | permalink

GMO ban still in place in Serbia

The law in Serbia bans the production and import of any genetically modified foods and seeds, Agriculture Minister Saša Dragin said on Thursday. [...] production and consumption of genetically modified food are prohibited and Serbia will continue producing healthy food, he said. The Novi Sad environment protection movement Wednesday accused Dragin of misinforming the public that there is no genetically modified food in Serbia.

2010-05-11 | permalink

Customer is king for Serbian non-GM soya bean company

”Our original project was for an isolates unit of 10,000-15,000 tonne capacity, but we soon found demand for 30,000 tonnes. That was the reason sharply to increase capacity,” he says. Like his export manager, Mr Vujacic treats soya with almost mystical reverence, stressing that Serbian beans are a strictly controlled, natural product, with no genetically modified organisms (GMO) used. ”There are cheaper soya products on the market, but Europeans do not like GMO crops, or additives. This is a big selling point,” he says.

2009-06-29 | permalink

New Law on GMO is prohibiting trade or commercial growing

On May 29, 2009 National Parliament of the Republic of Serbia adopted new Law Genetically Modified Organisms (GMO) that fully prohibits the possibility of commercial growing of live modified organisms, or trade with live modified organism and products derived from genetically modified organisms. With the new Law on GMO, Serbian import of soybean meal (from roundup ready soybeans) for cattle feed is no longer possible.

2008-06-03 | permalink

Aresa (Denmark) to test GE tobacco in Serbia for the detection of explosives

Aresa has achieved to get permission from the Serbian authorities to plant transgenic tobacco for the detection of explosives. It is the second time in two attempts that Aresa has achieved to get permission to plant transgenic plants in Serbia. This time the permission is related to the recently transformed RedDetect® version in the tobacco plant.

2007-08-31 | permalink

Serbia approved trials with GE arabidopsis for land mine detection

The plant based biotech company Aresa made an application to the authorities in Serbia about deliberate release involving open air trials with gene modified Thale Cress. Thale Cress (Arabidopsis Thaliana) is to be used for detection of explosives in soil among other in landmines. The Serbian authorities has evaluated and approved Aresa’s application according to local GMO –legislation.
The deliberate release will take place in an area close to Novi Sad in Serbia, and will be conducted in cooperation with the agricultural institute NS Seme in Novi Sad, (See First North announcement #9). The trials will commence immediately and will continue until end of the current growth season. In order to maximize the outcome of the deliberate release the trials will also involve seeding of various eco-types of Thale Cress. In parallel a similar approval has been given by Skov- og Naturstyrelsen in Denmark for a deliberate release in Jægerspris (Denmark).