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State Duma offers bill banning Russian production of GMO

The bill reads if a product contains over 0.9% of transgenic organisms, a producer should inform consumers and put the information on the labels

MOSCOW, February 03. /ITAR-TASS/. Russia’s State Duma has finalized a bill, which offers tougher requirements for turnover of GMOs in Russia and bans production involving transgenic and genetically modified organisms.

The bill’s authors - Evgeny Fedorov and the inter-faction union Russian Sovereignty - suggest banning completely turnover of products with high contents of GMO of vegetable, animal or microbial origin. The authors suggest the government should regulate a share of GMO acceptable in products.

In an interview with the Izvestia daily published on Monday, Fedorov said every group of goods should have its maximum share of GMO. However, all food produced inside the country should not contain GMO whatsoever.

The bill reads if a product contains over 0.9% of transgenic organisms, a producer should inform consumers and put the information on the labels. The document does not offer any limitations for distribution, even if GMOs make 100% of the product.

“Realistically, we limit imports of GMO, we do not ban them fully, though suggest the government undertakes the control,” Fedorov said.

The deputy told Itar-Tass the bill would be presented to the State Duma in two weeks’ time.