Will Hungary be the first EU country to ban GMOs?
The growing anti-GMO movement has gained traction in Europe as Hungary aims to be the first European Union nation to .
Earlier this year, the EU decided to allow its member states to in their respective agriculture industries and Hungary is leading the way. While the Hungarian government works to make the new regulations law, the Hungarian Farm Ministry will introduce a new labeling system to identify products such as meat, fish, eggs, milk, and honey that has been certified as GMO-free and livestock have been fed GMO-free food.
As the anti-GMO movement spreads beyond companies like Chipotle and Cheerios to entire countries, it begs the question of what threat GMOs actually pose and who stands to gain from the burgeoning movement against them.
Deputy state secretary Dr. Andr谩s R谩cz insisted that 鈥渢he Hungarian government is convinced that maintaining Hungary鈥檚 GMO-free status is the only right choice, because it is the only way to ensure that families have access to safe and sustainably produced food and to preserve natural diversity and the competitiveness of Hungarian agriculture,鈥� .
Additionally, Hungary鈥檚 Minister of Agriculture S谩ndor Fazekas has even mounted the 鈥淎lliance for a GMO-free Europe鈥� initiative to encourage other countries in the EU to become GMO-free zones as well.
The agrochemical and agricultural biotechnology giant thinks this is a bad move for Europe. The company to allow individual countries to ban GMO crops and has since launched an aggressive pro-GMO PR campaign.
Advocates for GMOs say that their usage would allow for greater food security as the world's population increases, an end to the overuse of pesticides, and increased crop productivity. But Monsanto鈥檚 reputation for destroying small farms and business with its seed licensing policies and aggressive legal team have .
Despite continued uneasiness with genetically modified food and regardless of ethics, there is a growing sense that the anti-GMO backlash may not be scientifically accurate.
While it is difficult to prove once and for all that something is safe, particularly such a new technology, (WHO), (FDA), and have all agreed that there is no evidence that eating genetically modified food is a health risk.
Moderate voices : to continue distribution of genetically modified foods while increasing testing and analysis of long-term impacts so as to insure safety but not stunt progress. Meanwhile, Europe continues on its anti-GMO track and researchers realize they would have better luck elsewhere.
"Our research and development work is mainly conducted in the places where the resulting products are actually used, and in the case of GM that is not in Europe," Richard Breum, a spokesman for Bayer CropScience, . "That will not change with the new law."
