The Bulgarian Environment and Water Ministry has confirmed that the new changes in the Law on Genetically Modified Organisms will not apply to food and animal feed.

“During the Bulgaria Parliament debate on the GMO Act there appeared unfounded fears that it is a bill to liberalize the sale of food and feed containing genetically modified ingredients, and that it will allow for the planting of GM crops for commercial purposes,” the Environment Ministry stated Tuesday.

The scope of the new law only includes laboratory research and release of GMOs into the environment, which means that only field experiments with scientific purposes, rather than planting of GM crops for commercial purposes will be allowed. However, many Bulgarian farmers are wary of the fact that GM Crops from the trial areas will cross fertilize with traditional crops – causing severe ecological damage.

The Environment Ministry repeated Bulgaria PM Boyko Borisov’s earlier comments that the GM Act is a compulsory change due to Bulgaria’s EU membership. Thye concluded that the current EU legislation is actually very strict on GMOs and will not lead to a more liberal approach on GMOs in Bulgaria.

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