Bulgaria approves law to ban GMO crops

Bulgaria's parliament voted on Thursday (18 March) to tighten a law that effectively banned cultivation of genetically-modified (GM) crops for scientific and commercial reasons in response to public fears.

The ruling centre-right GERB party decided to drop a planned moratorium on GMO production because the new law would keep the European Union member GMO-free, deputies said.

"There will be no field on the country's territory where GMOs can be cultivated," said Kostadin Yazov of GERB's parliamentary group.

Non-government organisations, farmers and citizens have rallied for over two months against the government's initial plans to replace a ban with a licensing regime, which they feared would flood the Balkan country with GMO crops.

The new law bans GMO cultivation in nature protected areas and large buffer zones around those areas and fields with organic crops, which effectively means scientific experiments and commercial cultivation will be impossible in the Balkan country.

The amendments also forbid growing crops approved by the European Commission such as the genetically modified potato, Amflora, developed by German chemical maker BASF, and three genetically modified maize types, made by US biotech firm Monsanto.

Under the law, fines for perpetrators were raised to up to one million levs (511,325 euros). Protesters said they were happy with the new law.

Giving in to growing public resistance, the ruling party was forced to drop its initial plans to ease the GMO crop cultivations and introduce a licensing regime which it had said was in line with the EU legislation.

Authorising GMOs for consumption, processing or cultivation in Europe is a politically-charged subject, with many openly hostile to what they call 'Frankenstein foods'.

Six member states currently apply so-called 'safeguard clauses' on GMOs in the EU: Austria, France, Greece, Hungary, Germany and Luxembourg.

(EURACTIV with Reuters.)

Read more with Euractiv

EU innovation strategy delayed until 'autumn'

The European Commission will publish a new 'Research and Innovation Plan' ahead of an autumn meeting of EU leaders in Brussels. The plan, first floated last year as the European Innovation Act, was originally to be published by spring 2010.