Center for Environment from Banjaluka organized the round table for the"Ratification of the GMO amandment" at the Veterinary Faculty in Sarajevo in collaboration with the GMO Council of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
At the round table participated the members of the GMO Council of Bosnia and Herzegovina, other experts in this area, and representatives from institutions and organizations that work on environmental and consumers rights. The participants discussed the importance of the GMO amendment ratification for Bosnia and Herzegovina. They gave the tentative support for this initiative though the Center will ask for official support in the following period.
"Consumers have the right to know what they are eating and to participate in decision making. Public availability of the data is mandated by the Law on GMO in Bosnia and Herzegovina which enables ratification of the GMO amandment. The GMO Council of Bosnia and Herzegovina gave the support to Center for Environment at this round table because the Center is our partner in raising awareness about the GMO topic in Bosnia and Herzegovina," said Vojislav Trkulja, president of the GMO Council of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Though in Bosnia and Herzegovina there is GMO legislation, laws at different levels is not harmonized. The law enforcement is low which is proven by ilegal GM crops in our fields. Producers and consumers are not well-informed about the legislation.
"The final goal of this campaign is to ensure that the citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina are informed and participate in decision making about deliberate releasing of GMOs in the environment as well as the placing such products on the market. In this phase, our goal is to deliver the Initiative for the GMO amendment ratification at the Aarhus Convention to the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Relations of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Council of the Ministers. This will enable us to begin steps toward development and implementation of the legislation on this topic," pointed out the coordinator of Aarhus center Banjaluka, Viktor Bjelić.
The campaign for the ratification of the GMO amendment at the Aarhus convention by Bosnia and Herzegovina is supported by the GEKKO foundation from Germany and the Transition Programme of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Czech Republic.
