Romania – GMO entry point

By Ralph Ahrens

Date: 06/10/05

Romania is becoming a battleground between biotech companies and environmental campaigners over theuse of genetically modified crops.

It is the only European country where genetically modified (GM) soy is cultivated legally, a peculiarity which might become more difficult when Romania joins the EU.

A Romanian government spokesman said: "Romania does not intend to play the role of a Trojan horse for GM products in Europe."

But doubts have been voiced about control of GM cultivation in Romania. Last month Greenpeace uncovered illegal field trials for GM potatoes in a research institute of Timisoara University. The potatoes contained so-called Bt-genes, which make them resistant to such insects as the Colorado beetle.

Two weeks later, on 23 September, Constantin Sin, head of the research and biotechnology department of the ministry of agriculture, told a conference in Bucharest that this experiment was the only one with GM plants in Romania.

Three days later, Greenpeace told the public that since 1996, a research and development station for trees in Bistrita had planted about 100 GM plum trees. These contain a gene which makes them resistant to the plum pox virus but could also give humans resistance to antibiotics such as Kanamycine. Platon Ioan, director of the Bistrita station, did not have authorisation for these experiments, and refused to show any documents related to the project when the national environmental authority inspected, Greenpeace campaigner Gabriel Paun said. The station was fined 10 million ROL (€300) and the experiment has had to stop, pending approval from the environment ministry. Paun is asking whether there are even more illegal experiments to uncover.

An agriculture ministry spokesman said: "Romania will try to negotiate with the EU authorities to continue growing GM soybean. If, by the time of Romania's accession to the EU, GM soybean is not approved for cultivation in the EU, we shall accept the fact and stop its cultivation."

This year, 140,000 hectares were planted with soy, of which about half is officially registered as GM soy. "In reality, GM soy is growing on most fields," Dragosü Dima, former country manager for Monsanto claimed. He said high royalties levied by Monsanto and Pioneer for the re-use of their soybeans were incompatible with traditional seed-saving strategies and so pushed farmers into illegality.

About 30,000 tonnes, one-tenth of the total Romanian soybean harvest was exported in 2003-04. Most soybeans were sold to Turkey, but some also to Italy, Greece, Spain and Hungary.

The Commissions environment department said that discussions had already begun with the Romanians about implementing EU laws and regulations and the planting of GM soybeans would have to stop if it was not allowed in the EU.

The problem will be solved economically, Dima believes. "When farmers can't sell what they produce, they have to revise their operations," he said.

Author suggests that Romania was becoming a battleground between biotech companies and environmental campaigners over the use of genetically modified crops. Romania was the only European country where genetically modified (GM) soy was cultivated legally, a peculiarity which might become more difficult with Romanian accession to the EU.