GMO ban in Russia is approaching

The State Duma is discussing a bill on a complete ban on GMOs in Russia (second reading)

Anatoly Alizar, "Giktimes"

In April 2015, the State Duma of the Russian Federation unanimously (!) adopted in the first reading a bill on a complete ban on the use of GMOs in agriculture and animal husbandry (the text of the bill and the full history of its discussion are here).

The initiative of the deputies caused some tension in the scientific community, because genetic engineering is considered as the most optimal and effective way to make changes to the genotype of crops to increase yields, improve the taste and nutritional values of products, pest resistance, etc. Compared to standard breeding methods, genetic engineering gives the best result and has no unpredictable consequences from random mutations of crops.

It seemed that after the criticism of the legislative initiative, it completely stalled, and there would be no continuation. But no. A little more than a year has passed – and the State Duma still returned to the discussion in the second reading. Now people's deputies are discussing amendments that should be introduced into the bill.

In the original version, Article 21 of Federal Law No. 149-FZ of December 17, 1997 "On Seed Production" (Collection of Legislation of the Russian Federation, 1997, No. 51, Article 5715; 2011, No. 30, Article 4596) is proposed to be supplemented with Part four of the following content:

"It is prohibited to use for sowing (planting) plant seeds obtained using genetic engineering methods, including those unable to reproduce or transfer hereditary genetic material, with the exception of their sowing (planting) during examinations and research work."

Paragraph 1 of Article 50 of Federal Law No. 7-FZ of January 10, 2002 "On Environmental Protection" (Collection of Legislation of the Russian Federation, 2002, No. 2, Article 133; 2011, No. 30, Article 4596) should be supplemented with the second paragraph as follows:

"It is prohibited to grow and breed plants and animals whose genetic program has been modified using genetic engineering methods, with the exception of their cultivation and breeding during examinations and research work."

Violation entails fines of up to 500,000 rubles.

The Science Committee of the State Duma of the Russian Federation supports the government bill introducing a complete ban.

The first deputy chairman of the Committee on Science Dmitry Novikov said that only some individual positions caused doubts, but in general the document was supported by the committee. Another deputy head of the committee, Alexey Chepa, admitted that the continuation of scientific work in this area is necessary, but believes that "US companies are the conductor of these products," so they still need to be banned.

Although the document was initially adopted unanimously, opinions have now diverged when discussing the amendments. Some members of the State Duma Science Committee note the paradoxical nature of the text of the bill, which completely prohibits the production of GMO products in Russia, but does not prohibit its import (in the law, the government reserves the right to prohibit the import into Russia of only some products containing GMOs.

There were brave people in the scientific community who opposed the unanimous decision of the State Duma and criticized the bill: "The total ban is opposed by the Russian Academy of Sciences, which sent an official letter to the State Duma profile committee signed by the President of the Russian Academy of Sciences Vladimir Fortov," Valery Chereshnev, chairman of the State Duma Committee on Science, said in an interview with Izvestia. The RAS proposals were prepared by the RAS Commission on Genetic Engineering headed by Academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Dean of the Faculty of Biology of Moscow State University Mikhail Kirpichnikov.

In addition to scientists of the Russian Academy of Sciences, even one State Duma deputy, Andrei Tumanov, opposed the ban on GMOs. He believes that the Russian society has become a victim of black PR and is little familiar with the essence of genetic engineering: "Public figures are afraid to talk about it now, because if they were in favor of allowing the production of GMOs, it could negatively affect their electoral ratings. Many of those taking part in the discussion associate GMOs with monsters and mutations and cannot explain the elementary principles of these processes," Tumanov said.

One way or another, but the consideration of the draft law on the prohibition of GMOs continues. The Committee on Science of the State Duma reported that now there are three main proposals on the agenda:

• ban the production of GMO products altogether;
• allow the production of GMO products only for medical and scientific purposes;
• allow the cultivation of GMO products to domestic producers.

In the near future, the committee will adopt the text of the amendments "taking into account the opinion of the expert community" – and send a new version of the bill to the State Duma for voting.

Probably, the parliamentarians will not have time to consider the amendments in this working session, so the adoption of the bill may be delayed again.

Since the 1970s, scientists have been studying the potential risks associated with the use of GMOs. More than a thousand scientific articles on this topic have been published, and so far scientists have not been able to find any signs of a negative impact of products from GM crops on human health, the environment and the activities of farms. Moreover, certain evidence of a positive effect of GMOs on human health has been found due to a reduction in the number of insecticidal poisoning and an increase in the level of vitamins in the population of developing countries.

In the world, 12% of all arable land is occupied by GM crops. For example, in the USA in 2015, genetically modified crops accounted for 99% of the harvested sugar beet, 94% soybeans, 94% cotton and 92% feed corn.

Portal "Eternal youth" http://vechnayamolodost.ru  09.06.2016