Bulgaria: First victory in public debate on changes in GMO law

Following the strong pressure by the public, experts’ arguments and numerous meetings, the Ministry of Environment in Bulgaria stepped back and accepted most of the suggestions of environmental organizations referring to the proposed changes in the GMO law. On January 26, 2010 in the National Assembly, MPs and representatives of the Ministry of Environment listened to the opinions of representatives of environmental NGOs, consumers’ and mothers’ initiative groups, and experts, about the changes proposed by the government.
 

Minister Karadzhova announced that the Ministry of Environment accepted most of the requests - to keep the prohibition to release GMOs into the environment in the area of the national ecological network and in the vicinity of organic fields, and to accept the re-examination of spatial isolations in GM culture fields. The GMO law will be returned for re-consideration in a special working group in the Parliament with the participation of NGO experts, as well as in the consultative committee on GMO in the Ministry of Environment, Genet reports. The new suggestions of ”For the Nature Coalition” and other NGOs will be discussed.
 

”The spirit has been released from the bottle. Society is more and more interested in what kind of crops are grown in Bulgarian fields and what Bulgarians eat. More and more people know what GMO is and every step by governmental institutions on the matter will be under strict control by society”, said Svetla Nikolova, a representative of ”For the Nature” and chair of the association Agrolink. Agrolink’s mission is to promote sustainable agriculture, to coordinate the national organic farmers’ network, and to support protection of the environment and the implementation of sustainable development principles.
 

Genet