Romania
Harvests Trouble With Its GM Crops
By Christine
Lescu
BUCHAREST, Romania, October 30, 2006 (ENS) - Romania may find
itself excluded from the European Union markets and even have difficulties
selling its genetically modified products locally, because of delays in
complying with European food traceability and labeling
regulations.
Experts say its increasing use of genetically modified crops
also hinders organic agriculture, an area in which Romania has the potential to
be competitive in the EU market.
After farmers this year cultivated
almost 130,000 hectares (321,236 acres) of GM soybeans, Romania became the
single biggest producer of this product in Europe, according to the
environmental campaign group Greenpeace.
The environmental organization
in 2004 ranked Romania 11th in a table of the world's biggest producers of GM
crops.
A large percentage of the GM soybean crop was also planted with
non-certified seed, meaning its origins cannot be identified or
traced.
The Romanian Ministry of Agriculture has announced a ban on the
cultivation of GM soy as of January 1, 2007, but many say Bucharest has done too
little, and too late, to address Europe's concerns about the kind of food coming
out of Romania.
In 2002, it adopted the first measures to regulate GM
products, when it told manufacturers of GM products to declare this information
on packages and labels.
But results have been patchy. A poor level of
compliance reflects the lack of interest in the subject felt by Romanian
consumers - unlike the situation in Western Europe.
Local consumer groups
say few Romanians feel eating GM food products is risky. "If we avoided eating
everything bad, we'd die of starvation," is shoppers' stock response.
In
February this year, meanwhile, the government made further moves. Until then,
cultivation of GM soybeans had been totally unregulated.
Now the
government is trying to bring food production standards into closer harmony with
EU environmental rules. It has ordered cuts in the production of GM herbicide
resistant soybeans, of which the EU does not approve, and introduced a
monitoring and control system for GM crops.
But so far there is little
sign of progress with these initiatives either. This year the production of GM
soybean increased - from about 65,000 to 130,000 hectares.
Experts say
the authorities are unable to cope with the growth of illegally cultivated
genetically modified crops.
The problem is that farmers have strong
incentives to grow GM soybeans. Normally, combating weeds and beetles is time
consuming and expensive. With the cultivation of resistant varieties, they can
combat pests more easily.
The Garda Nationala de Mediu, National
Environmental Guard, the body put in charge of monitoring compliance with the
new rules, has handed out 23 warnings and imposed 15 fines this year. But it
says tracking down all the culprits is hard.
Apart from dealing with
known GM crop growers, the body is struggling to halt the activities of those
who buy seeds from producers and sell them on.
Florian Udrea, of the
Garda Nationala, says checking this activity is an almost hopeless task. "Out of
carelessness or ill will, some people don't declare where the seeds from their
crops came from," he said.
Some farmers keep quiet about their GM crops
because they do not even know they have planted GM seeds. Cases of contamination
of crops with GM varieties are frequent.
Agricultural consultant Dragos
Dima says Romania will pay a price for failing to put in place effective systems
to test and control soybean production from cultivation to consumption and
monitor the presence of GM seed.
"If Romania does not adopt the
traceability and labeling measures required by the EU legislation, I am afraid
that starting with 2007, all its products containing soybean will be restricted
from entering EU markets," Dima said.
This is a serious threat to
farmers, he added, as most food products contain at least traces of soybean.
Romania could also find its access to structural funds for agricultural projects
restricted.
In a few months, Romania is about to join a club that has
strict standards on the GM issue and in which public opinion is on the
alert.
Several EU member states, including Germany and Austria, ban the
cultivation and import of GM seeds outright.
EU legislation does not ban
GM products altogether but it insists on strict rules concerning the release of
GM seeds into the environment and the traceability and labelling of genetically
modified organisms, GMOs, and GMOs in food and animal feed.
Only seeds
approved by the European Food Safety Authority may be traded within the
EU.
These tight European mechanisms reflect many scientists' continuing
concerns about genetic modification. Some worry that GM organisms may yet have
unforseeable and unpredictable consequences on the environment and on
health.
Professor Gilles-Eric Seralini, of the University of Caen, voiced
some of those concerns, felt especially with regard to Romanian GM products, to
Romanian public radio.
"The soybeans grown in Romania are treated with a
very powerful pesticide named Roundup Ready, which has toxic effects on human
placenta and embryos," he said in a recent interview.
"Roundup Ready is
used to destroy weeds and parasites attacking soya crops but also destroys every
other plant nearby, damaging the environment," said Seralini. "Roundup Ready
genetically engineered soya is not approved for growing in the
EU."
Dragos Dima says it may take Romania many years to put its
agricultural house in order.
"The country will have to decontaminate
itself from unapproved GM varieties and put in place working systems on the
release of GM organisms and on food labeling," he said.
"But the
decontamination process is likely to take years. Romania may also become a test
case to see whether GM crop-plant decontamination is possible at
all."
{Published in cooperation with the Institute for War and Peace Reporting,
IWPR. Christine Lescu is a journalist for Radio
Romania International.}
Copyright Environment News Service (ENS)
2006
----------------------------
Vali
An aristocratic title is
not enough to ensure a noble behaviour. A person's greatness comes from
acknowledging the mistakes and agreeing to correct them.
"When the power
of love overcomes the love of power, the world will know peace." (Jimi
Hendrix)
*** sustineti [romania_eu_list] prin 2% din impozitul pe 2005 - detalii la http://www.doilasuta.ro ***
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