Ban of GMOs in Bulgaria

In the opinion of 97 % of Bulgarians, Bulgaria should continue to stand up for the existing bans for GMO growing on its territory, including before the European Union. This was revealed by the last research of the National Centre for Public Opinion Research. The National Assembly took the public will into consideration and adopted the most restrictive law in the EU on March 18, 2010. Thus Bulgaria remains the country with the strictest law for GMO release into the environment. The new law keeps the ban for growing tobacco, vine, oil-bearing rose, wheat, and all vegetable and fruit cultures. It is prohibited to release GMOs into the environment in protected territories (natural and national parks, reserves), and protected areas of Natura 2000, as well as in the buffer zones of 30 km from their boundaries, within distances less than 10 km from stationery bee-hives, and within distances less than 7 km from organic farms. 144 members of the Parliament voted in favour of this suggestion, only one against and three abstained. The Parliament decided that  products containing GMO should be labelled with twice as big letters than other text on packages, and with different colours and fonts.
 

More than 17,900 citizens had signed the petition „Bulgaria: Free of GMO“, and more than 5100 people were for the ban of the GM maize MON810. 15 % of  Bulgarians kept up in detail with the development of the debate on the GMO law, and 50 % followed it in general. For the last three months, 27 groups against GMO with more than 55,000 members have been registered at Facebook. In eight cities, 16 protests and several informal spontaneous actions against the changes in the law have been organized. Several thousand publications in all media – electronic, printed, national and regional, were published. Thousands of cards against GMO drawn by children have been addressed to the Prime Minister and the European Parliament. “The most successful and strongest citizen campaign in Bulgaria in our new history turned the attitudes of the policy makers. Bulgarians showed strong concerns not only about their own health but also about nature and the rural areas,” said Svetla Nikolova (picture) from Agrolink.

Agrolink