Expert: Our goal is not to fight GMOs, but to adopt laws that protect  the interests of Armenian farmers and consumers

ArmInfo. "Our goal should not be to fight the Monsanto company or other GMOs, but adopt laws that protect the interests of Armenian farmers and consumers," the head of the information and analysis department for the food safety risk assessment of the Center said at a press conference on October 8. ecological-noospheric studies of the National Academy of Sciences, expert on food law issues David Pipoyan.  

Touching upon the public resonance over the possible entry of GMO giant Monsanto into the Armenian market, the expert stressed that her interest is due not to the attractiveness of the Armenian market, but to the fact that our country is not protected by law from the penetration of genetically modified products into its territory. "Therefore, our problem is not Monsanto, but legislation." We must pass a law banning the importation of GMO products to the republic, "the expert said, adding that after the creation of the new government, the Center headed by him sent a letter to Prime Minister Karen Karapetian , to discuss the situation and introduce legislative bans on the import of GMOs, however, this letter remained unanswered.  He also noted that the Center's efforts in 2012 from the Armenian market were seized GMO products - tomatoes, corn and peppers.  At the same time, the expert stressed that at the moment there is no unambiguous research that GMOs are dangerous, there are different opinions, but the fact that they can not be useful is a fact. "These products, as a rule, contain genes that are not contained in natural products, it can cause an allergic reaction. In addition, the territory where once genetically modified products were grown, will be forever infected," Pipoyan said.  The expert stressed that, according to the Armenian legislation, there should be special marking on genetically modified products. There are also indirect indications by which you can calculate these products, for example, too smooth and artificial lines on corn, etc. "But of course, 100% of the result can be given exclusively by laboratory research," Pipoyan said.  Note that on November 1, the efforts of the US Embassy in Armenia in Yerevan hosted a presentation of the activities of Valmont and Monsanto. Both companies are well known in the world market: the former is engaged in the sale and maintenance of 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 charge d'affaires of the US Embassy in Armenia Rafik Mansur marked the entry into the Armenian market of a whole presentation, while Armenia banned the production of GMOs two years ago, but the import of food containing genetically modified components has so far been 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, since they "do not do this in countries where it is prohibited." But for about 20 years now, the company has been selling seeds in Armenia and advising farmers. In turn, the US Embassy in Armenia reported that Monsanto has been selling its products on the Armenian market since 2006. Speaking about the objectives of presentation of Monsanto and Valmont companies in Armenia (sale of irrigation equipment), the US Embassy explains that the event was held in the context of US policy on stimulating American investments in the Armenian economy. Meanwhile, the authorized structures of Armenia are completely unaware of the penetration of the Monsanto GMO products into the Armenian market and the activities of other 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 ArmInfo were unable to give a clear answer as to 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 the investigation of the facts of the GMO giant's presence, ArmInfo correspondents found out that there are no statistics in Armenia about how many GMO products are entering the country's market, and, moreover, 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 informed the 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 Agriculture Ministry and Monsanto. The topic of a possible entry into the Armenian market of the American GMO giant was not left indifferent by the soloist of the rock band System of a Down, 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 United States, in Armenia, I have the opportunity to enjoy the taste of organic, crunchy apples - a product of long- term agricultural work. then it will be like this. "Thanks to Monsanto, I can not find such apples in the US," Tankian writes. Meanwhile, in late September, The Guardian published an expository article that Monsanto officially spent about 300,000 to 400,000 euros a year lobbying for its interests in the European Parliament.  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, cop ied its 2015 report on glyphosate from the Monsanto 2012 authorship report.