The Hungarian Bioculture Association calls on the agricultural leadership to take effective action against the NGT decree

The European Union is preparing to exclude certain plants and products produced with new genetic technologies from the scope of GMO legislation, despite the fact that they are still clearly genetically modified organisms (GMOs). Several European organizations are protesting against the regulation, because it is outrageous that by eliminating the GMO labeling, consumers would be deprived of the right to decide whether they want to consume GMOs and producers of the right to decide whether they want to produce GMOs. The new regulation would release unlabeled products, typically with unknown effects, onto the market, and would potentially leave farmers at the mercy of large seed companies, which are the main owners of the new techniques.

Since the use of GMOs is inherently contrary not only to domestic regulations, but also to the principle and practice of organic farming, Dr. Péter Roszík, general vice president of the Hungarian Bioculture Association, wrote a letter asking the head of the Ministry of Agriculture to use all possible means against the new regulation, especially since the Hungarian position has been opposed to it from the beginning.

The Association is now proposing international cooperation and joint action, but the draft is accompanied by mass protests in other member states and even outside the EU, in Switzerland. Hungary’s prominent role is given by the fact that the GMO exemption enshrined in our Fundamental Law would uniquely conflict with the new regulation. The organic certification organization owned by Biokultúra, Biokontroll Hungária Nonprofit Kft., published on its website months ago the e-mail-sending interface through which anyone can send a message to any member of the European Parliament, including Hungarian members, with a few clicks. More than 10,500 people have already expressed their concerns about the EU draft on the interface.

The draft legislation was also examined from a legal perspective by the German Organic Food Industry Association. According to the expert opinion, the text adopted in the tripartite consultation contradicts the precautionary principle in several respects, for example, it does not take into account the potential risks of GMO crops. The evaluation also concludes that the benefits granted to NGTs cannot be justified by a clear social benefit. The regulation would also accept that NGT plants that prove harmful to humans or the environment can spread in the environment in such a way that their subsequent removal is not possible.