Environmentalists from the Public Environmental Centre for Sustainable Development (PECSD) in Varna urged Bulgaria to vote against the European Commission's proposal to abolish the regulation of plants produced with new genomic techniques. They handed over an open letter to Regional Governor Andriyana Andreeva, which she committed to forward to Prime Minister Nikolay Denkov and Environment and Water Minister Julian Popov. Ilian Iliev from the PECSD said that a Council of Environment Ministers will be held in Brussels on January 11, where the issue will be discussed and he expressed hope that Bulgaria will oppose the EC proposal.
Andreeva noted that as a representative of the state in Varna she is committed to convey the position of the environmentalists to the government. She added that as a citizen and a parent she also has concerns related to the use of genetically modified organisms. She hoped that decisions on the issue would be taken following experts' firm position on the use of GMOs.
Along with the open letter, Iliev handed over to the governor a crate of environmentally friendly vegetables with guaranteed origin, produced by small local farmers. In his words, the symbolic act expresses the desire and hope of small farmers to preserve their livelihoods, which will be seriously threatened if a European regulation on GMO deregulation comes into force.
/NZ/
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