Large Ukrainian agricultural associations have prepared draft amendments to the law on the state biosecurity system in creating, testing, transportation and use of genetically modified organisms (GMO) regarding the legalization of genetically modified seeds.
Sustainable Pulse Director, Henry Rowlands, reacted to the Ukrainian associations’ statement by suggesting that “Ukrainian agriculture will be seriously damaged if the Ukrainian government legally allows GM seeds in the country. Their farmers will find their export markets reduced due to consumers’ anti-GMO sentiments both in Russia and the EU.”
Rowlands continued: “The bulk of Monsanto’s investment in Europe is destined for the Ukraine, where Monsanto expects to have its largest seed production plant in Europe within five years after earmarking an initial $150 million investment, which could rise to $300 million within several years. Does Ukrainian agriculture want to totally rely on the success or failure of one US based company?”
Source: Interfax
President of the Ukrainian Grain Association (UGA) Volodymyr Klymenko said at a press conference at Interfax-Ukraine that the relevant appeal to the president, the head of the Verkhovna Rada and the heads of parliamentary factions was signed by six agricultural associations.
“We could mull over this issue for a long time, but we, jointly with the associations, have signed two letters to change the law on biosecurity, in which we propose the legalization of the use of GM seeds, which had been tested in the United Stated for a long time, for our producers,” he said.
According to the UGA president, currently the GM seeds of corn and soybeans are used in the country in spite of the legislative ban. Talking about the use of foreign experience in this field, Klymenko said that “we will never take someone’s seeds and will never be able to study them, because this requires decades. Ukraine’s way forward in this issue is either to agree or not to.”
According to the expert, the United States produces about 75% of corn and 95% soybeans from GM seeds. The European Union banned the cultivation of GM crops, but GM products are imported and used, in particular, in animal feed, added Klymenko.
Ukraine is a major global grain producer and is forecast to export 14.5 million tonnes of maize this year. The country currently imports around half of the seed it needs to produce its annual maize crop, but Monsanto said its new plant would reduce that dependence by about a fifth.
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This is a sad day for Ukraine.
Has Ukraine noticed that Americans are turning away from genetically engineered foods. The non-GE market is skyrocketing, as markets search for non-GE traditional food. Ukraine could be that market and export non-GE food. Stay with the crops of our ancestors… my grandmother and grandfather came from this area.
Please do not use these Glyphosate-resistant seeds. Save your bees. Save your soil. America lost half of its bees in many areas this year!
Also, Glyphosate is a broad spectrum antibiotic and kills the good bacteria, leaving salmonella, staph, botulism and fungi.
Lastly, Glyphosate was originally patented to chelate, or remove minerals. Keep your rich, soil full of life. Please do not import genetically engineered seeds to grow ‘pesticide on a plate.’ Go to responsibletechnology.org for more information.
The second trait engineered into these crops is to produce the pesticide bT Toxin. This has been found in the blood of 90% of pregnant women and 85% of the cord blood of babies. Test animals show infertility and reproduction problems, with the grandchildren being unable to produce offspring. In America, we have infertility clinics in every town now.
Do you really want to lose the ability to save your own seeds as Europe has? To buy from Monsanto every year? Do the right thing. Stay with your precious heirloom seeds.
Monsanto has a patent, and does not give seeds for independent testing. In the US, a Monsanto Vice-President is in charge of our Food and Drug Association, and it says that because GE foods are ‘substantially equivalent,’ to traditional foods they will not be labeled or tested by the FDA. Monsanto on the other hand, paid $700 million for poisoning Aniston GA with PCBs, Monsanto’s Agent Orange poisoned hundreds of thousands of Vietnamese. Do you trust Monsanto to safely feed Ukrainian children?
People of Ukraine, please wake up!! Once Monsanto get a foot in the door, it will destroy all natural seeds and plants.
Please read all the test results from scientists that is not on the pay roll of Monsanto! GMO products create various illness in the body of which cancer is the most astounding followed closely by vast increase in allergies.
Please, please do not allow this monstrous company near your agriculture, please, for the health of all your children.
The farmers should switch back to the original farming practices in their native lands. Those natural practices have been so sustainable, went on and on for centuries. No unnatural products – chemicals, GMOs, should ever be allowed.