Russia has officially declared a war against Monsanto’s GMO food and completely banned the use of GMO ingredients in all types of food. They decided to steer clear from GMO labeling and GMO since there have been reports of high amounts of GMO in all kinds of foods, from packaged to genetically modified crops.
During an international conference on biotechnology Deputy PM Arkady Dvorkovich said: “as far as genetically-modified organisms are concerned, we have made a decision not to use any GMO in food productions.”
This decision sits the Russian government in unison with the recent global debate on GMOs and the presence of Monsanto in the food supply, which follows the highly-debated ruling by the World Health Organization, which claims that the glyphosate-based Roundup by Monsanto is likely to be a carcinogen.
However, it should be noted that Russia doesn’t use nearly as much GMO in her food as the US does and if the American government decides to follow their example the entire food industry will have to be transformed.
According to statistics over 90% of staple crops like corn are genetically modified in the United States, along with 94 percent of cotton, and 94 percent of soybeans. Having this in mind, if GMO gets banned in the US it will change the entire food supply from its roots, and we’re not ready for this step apparently.
RT reported that:
“According to official statistics the share of GMO in the Russian food industry has declined from 12 percent to just 0.01 percent over the past 10 years, and currently, there are just 57 registered food products containing GMO in the country. The law ordering obligatory state registration of GMO products that might contact with the environment will come into force in mid-2017.”
Moreover, the Russian president stated that he wants to keep his country GMO free but still compliant to the regulation set by the WTO. At a meeting of the Board of the Russian Federation Council’ members he stated:
“We need to properly construct our work so that it is not contrary to our obligations under the WTO. But even with this in mind, we nevertheless have legitimate methods and instruments to protect our own market, and above all citizens.”
We applaud the decision of the Russian government and we’re left wondering is it possible for this kind of decision to be made in our country as well? What do you think?
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