News
2010-02-19 | permalink
Bulgaria MPs agree GMO amendments to protect organic farmland
The Bulgarian Parliamentary Committee on the Environment has agreed that GMOs will not be allowed within 7 kms of organic farmland, and 10 kms away from permanent, registered beehive clusters. They also adopted a five-year ban on the cultivation of GMOs for commercial and scientific research in the field. The document was voted before the new law on GMOs was adopted on second reading. The committee has accepted these changes to the Law on Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) at the proposal of Evdokiya Maneva, Deputy Minister of Environment and Water.
2010-02-15 | permalink
Five-Year Ban on GMOs in Bulgaria
Sofia, 12.02.2010
The Environment and Water Committee of the Bulgarian Parliament yesterday (February 11) agreed a five-year ban on Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs). The final approval of the bill which will be voted by the Bulgarian National Assembly in a second reading is scheduled for next week.
The ban follows a wave of protests last two months in which farmers,NGOs, consumers' and mothers' initiative groups came together in five different cities of the country - Sofia, Ruse, Varna, Plovdiv and Veliko Tarnovo. More than fifteen thousand signatures were collected supporting the petition "GM- free Bulgaria" and another five thousand demanding a ban on the maize hybrid MON810. The Prime Minister Boiko Borisov received two thousand postcards painted by children appealing to him to keep Bulgaria GMO free.
The Environment and Water Committee accepted new texts in the GMO act which were proposed by NGOs: the demand that owners and tenants of agricultural land located next to farms planting GM crops should expressly grant their permission; bigger distances for fields neighbouring with GM cultivated land, etc
"With its adoption of this ban on the cultivation of GMOs in Bulgaria the National Assembly has shown that it listens to the demands of the Bulgarian people. The enormous interest demonstrated by the public and the media in Bulgaria has increased the level of knowledge in the country about genetically modified crops and from now on people will follow very carefully every political step made in the field of genetic engineering for agriculture. Yet the doubts for inconsistent politics remain with the refusal of the Ministry of Agriculture to support the organic farming" said Svetla Nikolova, chair of AGROLINK.
Contact: Svetla Nikolova
AGROLINK Association, +359 888 359 239
e-mail: svetla.nikolova@agrolink.org, www.agrolink.org
2010-02-12 | permalink
Bulgaria parliament committee adopts changes to GMO act including 5-year ban on GE crop cultivation
The Bulgarian Parliamentary Committee on Environment and Water has adopted the proposed changes to the GMO Act including the 5-year ban on GM Crop cultivation. The decision was backed by the 11 MPs on the Committee and will be voted on next week in the second hearing of the Act in the Bulgarian Parliament. It was passed at its first reading in January.
Novinite, Bulgaria: Bulgaria parliament committee adopts changes to GMO act- Focus Information Agency, Bulgaria: Environment and Water Committee adopts a five-year moratorium on GMOs
- Novinite, Bulgaria: Bulgaria Environment Minister slams politicization of GMO act
- Focus Information Agency, Bulgaria: BSP, MRF strike cotton off the prohibitive list of experiments with GMOs: Nona Karadzhova
- Novinite, Bulgaria: People around Bulgaria rise in protest against GMO
- Reuters, UK: Bulgaria repeats no GMO pledge, public unconvinced
- Focus Information Agency, Bulgaria: GMO dispute … (ROUNDUP)
- Focus Information Agency, Bulgaria: Amendments to GMO Act not imposed by Brussels: Iskra Mihaylova
- Novinite, Bulgaria: Bulgaria Environment Minister: Socialist cabinet voted yes on GMO
- Standart, Bulgaria: MRF insists on presidential veto for GMO act
2010-02-12 | permalink
Italian court overturns national GE crop ban
The highest appeals court in Italy has overturned a standing ban on the cultivation of genetically modified plants. The Ministry of Agriculture and a majority of the population seem otherwise inclined. According to London weekly Agra Europe, the highest court in Italy has instructed the Ministry of Agriculture to allow the planting of genetically modified (GM) maize.
GM Free Ireland Network, Ireland: Equivita thanks Minister Luca Zaia and urges him to proceed in defense of Italian citizens' rights2009-11-02 | permalink
Turkey bans imports of biotech products
Turkey, the 27th largest export market for all U.S. goods, issued a new regulation placing additional requirements on all food and feed products containing genetically enhanced components. This new regulation essentially came without warning, according to U.S. Grains Council Regional Director in the Middle East and Subcontinent Joe O’Brien. ”This ban came at us pretty much out of the blue,” he said.
