Ukraine: After BSE and GMOs -- Where is food safety?

• Author: Moskvin, Serhii
• Position: Brief Article

In follow up to the debate at the 11th EFGP Council at The Hague in June, we have received this article from Serhii Moskvin MP, Green Party of Ukraine.

Ukraine still has no fully-fledged law on GMOs; neither has it an official moratorium on growing and distributing them. The first attempt to adopt this kind of legislation failed in the Parliament of Ukraine in January 2001 as the draft law was heavily criticized by the public and Greens for being pro-biotech.

The Ukrainian public is not aware of the problem and the threat Trans-National Corporations' (TNCs') expansion in the new Newly Independent States (NIS) markets will cause. This is in sharp contrast to the public in the West, where they have been facing the results of TNCs' activities in their countries for many years. Pesticides and food products containing GMOs are one of the main focuses of TNCs' strategies in Ukraine.

One of the most powerful TNCs firmly implanted in Ukraine nowadays is Monsanto. It exerts considerable influence on the Ukrainian market policy and on the forming of National Law. The methods used are often unscrupulous and even ruthless. And it is exactly this company that lobbied for the recently rejected draft law on GMOs and is still pursuing the same target to make the Parliament adopt that version of the law.

Monsanto never misses a chance to speak about the high quality of its major product, GM seeds, although some scientists in Ukraine warn that allowing massive introduction of GM plants in the country would be a great mistake. No GM plant has yet received an approval for commercial release here. In the Public Treaty Monsanto alleges that all of its products will be safe and reliable for consumers, with very low risk of harm to the environment or to human health.

Monsanto is known in Ukraine as a producer of a pesticide called Round-Up, which is sold in almost every farmer's shop. Now it is the leading company testing GM plants, mainly potatoes, corn and rape. For several years Monsanto has been involved in a public debate about GMOs, pushing the idea that Ukraine should not lag behind scientific progress and avoid new technologies simply for emotional reasons.

Right now we can say with confidence that TNCs in the NIS exert considerable influence not...