Monsanto sells its products in the Armenian market since 2006:  Armenia`s authorized structures are unaware 

ArmInfo.Since 2006, Monsanto has been selling its products on the Armenian market. This is stated in the explanation of the US Embassy in Armenia about the public 

resonance in connection with the possible entry into the Armenian market of the American GMO giant - the Monsanto company.

Speaking about the objectives of the recent presentation of Monsanto 

and Valmont companies in Armenia, the US Embassy explains that the 

event was held in the context of US policy on stimulating US 

investments in the Armenian economy. Nevertheless, as the American 

diplomatic mission emphasized, the decision on cooperation with these 

companies should be made by Armenian farmers and agro-companies. 

Meanwhile, the authorized structures of Armenia are completely 

unaware of the entry of GMO products into the Armenian market and the 

activities of companies engaged in the production and sale of 

genetically modified products.

Neither in the Ministry of Agriculture of Armenia nor in the State 

Security Service for the Supply of Food, they were unable to give a 

clear answer to ArmInfo question whether Monsanto is operating on the 

Armenian market. In both structures it was only assumed that the 

company, if it is represented on the Armenian market, it is most 

likely under a different brand.

During our investigation it was also found out that there are no 

statistics in Armenia about how many GMO products enter the country's 

market, and especially, there are no laboratory tests of these 

products for safety. However, in a conversation with the 

correspondent of ArmInfo the press secretary of the State Service for 

Food Safety Nvard Arakelyan told optimistic news - in 2018 the 

structure intends to carry out laboratory analyzes of GMO products 

entering the Armenian market as a priority. Earlier in the 

conversation with the correspondent of ArmInfo the press secretary of 

the Ministry of Agriculture Ani Smbatyan said that after public 

resonance and publications in the media, Minister Ignaty Arakelyan 

instructed to study the situation connected with the activities of 

Monsanto in Armenia. Today she said that information on this matter 

will be provided next week.

Nevertheless, Smbatyan stressed that the Ministry is in favor of the 

development of organic agriculture in Armenia. "Deputy Minister of 

Agriculture of Armenia Armen Harutyunyan also stressed this during a 

presentation organized by the US Embassy," she said, however, 

stressing that there is no agreement on cooperation between the 

Armenian Ministry of Agriculture and Monsanto.

On November 1, by the efforts of the US Embassy in Armenia, a 

presentation of the activities of companies and Monsanto took place 

in Yerevan.

Both companies are well known in the world market: they sell and 

service mechanized irrigation equipment, and there are no complaints 

about it. The same can not be said about the transnational 

corporation Monsanto - this company is engaged in the production of 

transgenic seeds and poisons for their processing. And then the 

temporary charge d'affaires of the US Embassy in Armenia, Rafik 

Mansour, marked their entry into the Armenian market, two years ago 

Armenia banned the production of GMOs, but the import of food 

containing genetically modified components is allowed in the presence 

of special markings. That is, the market as such is not protected 

from such products, even if it appears on the shelves with special 

markings.

However, in an interview with journalists, Alexander Zvyagintsev, 

sales manager for Monsanto in the CIS, assured that the company will 

not offer Armenian partners to work with genetically modified 

products, as they "do not do it in countries where it is prohibited." 

But for about 20 years now, the company has been selling seeds in 

Armenia and advising farmers. The topic of a possible entry into the 

Armenian market of the American GMO giant was not left indifferent by 

the soloist of the System of a Down rock-group Serge Tankian who, in 

his Facebook page, called on Armenia to "stay away" from the American 

company Monsanto. In particular, he wrote: "Because of its policy, 

Monsanto has earned a reputation in the United States and Europe for 

a" corporation of evil. " Unlike in the USA, in Armenia I have the 

opportunity to enjoy the taste of ecologically clean, crispy apples - 

a product of long-term agricultural work. Let it go on like this. 

"Thanks to Monsanto, I can not find such apples in the US," writes 

Tankian. Between those, at the end of September, The Guardian 

published an unmasking article that Monsanto had officially spent 

lobbying for its interests in the European Parliament about? 300 

000-? 400? 000 per year. An internal correspondence was also made 

public, where the company's employees discuss ways to better prevent 

the normal study of the glyphosate pesticide and its recognition as 

dangerous, and correspond with some American officials and scientists 

about it. Later it was also discovered that the European organization 

EFSA, responsible for product safety, copied its 2015 report on 

glyphosate from the Monsanto 2012 authorship report.