site.btaNGOs Speak at Conference Entitled "Bulgarian Society against New GMOs" in Sofia

BTA's National Press Club in Sofia hosted a conference entitled Bulgarian Society against New GMOs on Thursday.

Svetla Nikolova of Association Agrolink said that the good news from Wednesday is that the Council of Europe did not approve the draft regulation on new genomic techniques. According to Nikolova, the real public debate is just beginning. One of the big problems with this regulation is that there is no risk assessment, she added.

In Nikolova's opinion, the decision on regulation of New Genomic Techniques (NGTs) will likely be taken after the European elections and the summer break. She noted that Bulgaria together with Germany, Belgium and Luxembourg abstained, while the countries that voted against were Austria, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Hungary and Croatia.

Miroslav Parvanov of the Bulgarian Veterinary Union (BVU) reported the topic had been discussed during BVU's national council. We are against this regulation and against having these products released freely, Parvanov said, adding that he believes a more thorough analysis is necessary.

On Wednesday, the European Parliament adopted its negotiating position with Member States on the European Commission's proposal on New Genomic Techniques (NGTs), which alter the genetic material of an organism, by 307 votes to 263, with 41 abstentions. Of the Bulgarian MEPs, 11 voted against, six abstained, and two did not vote.

According to Milen Chanev of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, organic farming and GMOs cannot coexist.

Ivan Atanasov, head of Agrobioinstitut, said: "Europe does not grow but imports classic GMO. Now Europe wants to ban it. The problem is that it [Europe] needs to import. European farming is very expensive and at some point, when we can no longer pay the ever-increasing difference, we will be forced to import."