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Director of Genetic Resources Institute: â€œGenetically modified products fall in the Azerbaijani marketsâ€

27 December 2011 10:51 (UTC +04:00)

But no one knows what consequences it will bring in the futureâ€, said director of the Genetic Resources Institute of the Azerbaijan National Academy of Sciences Zeynal Akbarov told APA. He said the existed legislation concerning GMO is not enough. â€œWe need in adoption of a law concerning the genetically modified products. The laws on ecologically safe agriculture and seed-growing ban the import of genetically modified products. But some businessmen bring such products and organize their sale. There is a law on the protection of genetic resources and effective use of cultivated plants. The article 21 of the law shows that bringing, test and registration of genetically modified products to the Republic of Azerbaijan are prohibited because GMO crowds out the genes of local plants. Therefore all changes in the genes of the plants should be investigatedâ€.

Akbarov said mostly genetically modified corn, soybean, sunflower, vegetables and fruits are brought to Azerbaijan. â€œThe members of the parliament, government officials, ministers know that, buy and use such products, but no one makes efforts to organize the process of prohibitionâ€, said Akbarov and added that they founded Genetic Bank in the institute to protect the local variety of the plants. â€œThe Genetic Bank contains data of about 10 000 plants and 5000 of them are saved in the form of seed. Others are perennial plants and are saved as the collections or in the fields. We are planning to purchase the equipments to detect products containing GMO. We will address the government agencies on this issueâ€.