YEREVAN, JANUARY 27, ARMENPRESS. At the moment there is no legislative act in Armenia that will ban the import of genetically modified seeds and plants to the country, Ashot Harutyuyan, deputy minister of agriculture, said during the parliamentary hearings on the topic of Genetically Modified Organisms (GMO), reports Armenpress.

“The agriculture ministry received numerous requests to ban the import of GMOs and activity of the American Monsanto company to the country, explaining that this company imports genetically modified seeds to the country. I want to state that the import market of seeds is liberalized in Armenia, and the state doesn’t interfere in the activity of any company. There is no legislative act in Armenia which will ban the import of genetically modified seeds”, the deputy minister said.

He informed that the import of GMOs to Armenia started increasing in 1990s especially through humanitarian aid channels. “Among the first GMO products were some seeds, then tomatoes, seedlings of quickly growing trees, canned corn and etc. In other words, the Armenian market was unable to be protected from the import of GMOs. In 2006 Armenia adopted the law on Food Safety which defines the necessary requirements for the safety, labeling, packaging of the food and materials linked with it”, the deputy minister noted.

He informed that today there are more than 100 types of GMOs and plants – soya, corn, rice, squash and etc. “These plants are grown in the US, Argentina, Canada, Australia, China, Mexico, India, Japan, France, Portugal and etc. We have a law gap in the field”, he said.

He also presented the works carried out by the ministry to regulate the use of GMOs.