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Azerbaijan conducts large-scale monitoring of products containing GMO

08 May 2013 14:10 (UTC +04:00)

Baku. Kamala Guliyeva – APA. Large-scale monitoring of the products containing Genetically Modified Organisms (GMO) will be conducted in Azerbaijan this month, director of Azerbaijan National Academy of Sciences (ANAS) Institute of Genetic Resources, Zeynal Akberov told APA. He said monitoring to be jointly conducted in 5 directions by the ANAS, Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources, Ministry of Agriculture, Ministry of Health, State Committee on Standardization, Metrology and Patents will cover two stages.

During the initial monitoring, sown areas will be inspected and samples of some products will be analyzed in the laboratory at the second stage.

The results of the research will be submitted to the Cabinet of Ministers. Phytosanitary Service will destroy these products with the participation of relevant ministries after it is approved by the Cabinet of Ministers.

Akberov said that the law prohibits import, planting and cultivation of products containing GMO: “There is genetically modified grain, cotton, vegetables, fruits and forage crops in Azerbaijan, like all over the world. It is necessary to determine their places and destroy them and if they don’t exist, it needs to specify them. Monitoring will be conducted only in cultivated areas, but not in markets.”

According to Akberov, if monitoring detects the products containing GMO, their cultivators will face large fines.