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THIRD WORLD
NETWORK BIOSAFETY INFORMATION SERVICE RE: HUNGARY BANS GM MAIZE SEED In a historic move, Hungary recently announced that, from 20 January 2005 onwards, maize seeds containing the GM event MON 810 would be banned from planting and import in the country. This meant that Hungary has become the first country in Eastern Europe to ban the GMO maize despite the European Commission's decision on 8 September 2004 to list 17 varieties of MON 810 on the EU seed catalogue, making them available for sale anywhere in Europe. MON 810 has been authorized in the EU since 1998, although had been only listed on the national catalogues of two countries. The Commission's decision to inscribe MON 810 on the EU catalogue meant that farmers across Europe could commercially grow these GM varieties. Austria has also banned MON 810, due to concerns about the effects of the insecticidal maize on non-target organisms. Recent moves by the European Commission to overturn the ban have been unsuccessful. According to the Hungarian government, the decision to ban the production, use, distribution and import of hybrids deriving from the MON 810 maize line is a temporary measure until tests are completed. It came to this decision just a day after a large protest was organized by Hungarian civil society. The decision, however, does not prohibit the movement of the GM maize across Hungary, although packages must not be opened, nor the seed modified in any way. The ban applies to seed producers and distributors as well as farmers. Attached are two articles reporting on the Hungarian decision. With best
wishes,
Published
in the newspaper: East-Hungary, January 21, 2OO5. Although GM crops have been spreading all over the world, in Europe they are less welcome and except for the financial interest of the multinational biotech companies most scientists and ecologists have considerable misgivings. [According to] an agricultural ministerial decision on last Wednesday it will be forbidden to grow and import MON 810 corn in Hungary from 2O January 2OO5. Greenpeace of Hungary has been protesting against the import of MON 810 and all hybrids derived from it but according to Mr Imre Nemeth, the minister for agriculture, the ban on MON 810 is only temporary. In the next few months or years this ban will have to be underpinned by proper biological testing even though this GM maize has not been accepted in the EU for growing but the appropriate EU committee has already put 17 of these hybrids on the official seed list. However, any member state can decide about and prepare the appropriate conditions and rules for their eventual acceptance. One of the great pest protection experts of the Hungarian Academy [of] Sciences, Professor Bela Darvas, commented on the decision as such: This decision of the government was highly appropriate in view of the risk analysis of MON 81O. This GM maize has been created to protect the maize plant against the European corn borer. However, only the southern part of the country is affected by this pest and even then this only occurs once in every ten years. However, even when it occurs its effects are slight and it is more appropriate, less costly and more effective to treat the maize with conventional pesticide when this happens. Moreover, the Bt maize can cross-pollinate with other non-GM maize within a 5OO m circle and about a third of these will be contaminated with the Bt toxin in the first year and accordingly within a few years all the non-GM maize will lose its identity. Hungary has no law that could ensure the purity of the organically or even conventionally grown maize in the vicinity of GM maize cultivation and there are no proper and official tests to prove or disprove this contamination. When the
GM maize sheds its pollen protected species of butterflies at the border
of the maize field living on the nettles will be affected. One hectare
of GM maize produces a thousand times more Bt toxin than it would be lawfully
permitted in any country of the world. This Bt toxin Item 2 BUDAPEST
- Hungary, one of the biggest grain producers in the new EU, became the
first country in eastern Europe to ban GMO maize when on Wednesday it
outlawed the planting of Monsanto Co's MON 810 maize hybrid seeds. "The temporary measure bans the production, use, distribution and import of hybrids...deriving from the MON 810 maize line," the ministry said in a statement. MON 810 is allowed in the European Union, but individual countries currently have discretion over whether to allow it and other gene-altered crops. No GMO crops are grown in Hungary at present and the Hungarian ban on MON 810 will come into force on Thursday and remain until tests are completed. Anti-GMO campaigners say the technology is not proven and that it could contaminate other crops, while the industry says it vastly benefits consumers and there is no evidence of contamination from numerous trials of the crops. Monsanto said two maize variants based on MON 810 had been awaiting approval in Hungary and that the ban was not justified, adding that Hungary had made a unilateral decision and did not appear to have consulted the European Commission. Brussels-based Monsanto spokesman Daniel Rahier said the company did not believe that the issue of the co-existence of GMO and non-GMO crops could be used to justify a ban. "The ban was a great disappointment for us, there was no condition which required this action, no one wanted to import genetically modified corn seed into Hungary," said Mihaly Czepo, who deals with biotechnology issues for the company in Hungary. The ministry said the Monsanto hybrid will still be allowed to ship across Hungary, although packages must not be opened, nor the seed modified in any way, the ministry said. "The ban applies to seed producers and distributors as well as farmers," the ministry said. Hungary is a major grains producer and had a bumper harvest in 2004 of 16.7 million tonnes of grain, up 90.5 percent on the previous year, and much of that is exported to the European Union. Maize output alone was 8.3 million tonnes in 2004. Austria, France, Germany, Greece and Luxembourg have bans on particular products -- three GMO maize varieties and two types of rapeseed. Opponents of the technology have expressed concern that the new European Union countries, many of them relatively poor ex-communist countries, could provide a back door for GMO food production, something the industry has denied. Poland allows the import of GMO maize and is in the process of passing a law which would allow for growing of GMO maize in Poland, which is expected to be voted on in parliament this year. Romania, also a big grains producer which hopes to join the EU in 2007, allows genetically modified soya and is keen to expand GMO food production.
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