Suchergebnisse

Since 2000, Romania had in place a legal Biosafety Framework with the objective of protecting human health and the environment, in accordance with the precautionary principle (Government Ordinance 49/2000). In 2000, Romania was the only country in Europe approving market release of two genetically modified (GM) crops: Roundup Ready (RR) soybean and Superior New Leaf potato. GM potato has not been commercialized. On the contrary, RR soybean was grown on thousands of hectares. Romania is one of the few European countries with favourable conditions for soybean production and, in 2006, was one of the nine countries in the world that cultivated this GM crop. As member of the European Union beginning with 2007, Romania must comply with the rules for placing on the market, traceability and labelling of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) as laid down by EU legislation. Consequently, as of 2007, Roundup Ready soybean cultivation was banned in Romania. Today, Bt-maize expressing the insecticidal protein Cry1Ab from Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) in the only GM crop approved for cultivation in the EU. In 2007, Bt hybrids were grown on about 300 ha and in 2009, on about 3000 ha, especially in areas where the lepidopterean target pest caused serious infestations. In this overview, we address the current status of Romanian biosafety legislation, agricultural biotechnology research, deliberate release and commercialization of GM crops. We also present the main stakeholders and their expectations regarding the development of agricultural biotechnology in Romania

Romania is one of the few European countries with favourable conditions for soybean production. Herbicide tolerant (HT) soybeans (Roundup Ready, RR) were grown commercially beginning with 1999 and accounted for 68% (or, in absolute figures, 137 thousand hectares) of all soybeans planted in 2006. Farmers who used RR soybeans indicated that this crop was the most profitable arable crop grown in Romania, with gains derived from higher yields and improved quality of seed coupled with lower costs of production. Other advantages: increased convenience and management flexibility; small saving on harvest cost; significant benefits in the crop rotation pattern. In a representative sample of commercial farms, the profit margin per hectare ranked between EUR 100 and 187, corresponding to a production range varying from 3 to 3.5 tonnes/ha, while, in the same market year (2006), conventional soybean growers were running losses. The incremental income was the result of herbicide cost reduction (on average, 1.9 treatments applied to RR soybeans and, respectively, 4.3 treatments to the conventional one) as well as the higher yields (3-3.5t/ha for RR versus 2 t/ha for the conventional product). In 2006, Romania stood among the eight countries that cultivated this crop worldwide. In 2007, as a Member State of European Union, it banned cultivation of this crop, although growing HT soybeans in Romania generated substantially higher net farm income gains per hectare than in any of the other country using the technology. As a result, in only two years, the area planted to soybeans has shrunk with 70%, while Romania became a net importer of vegetable protein, just like the European Union itself. At the national economy's level, hard currency losses (as a result of increased imports) are estimated to exceeded $US100 million per year, while domestic farmers are deprived from using a unique opportunity to produce an export crop and lower the cost of animal feed, increasing their competitiveness in the global marketplace. The existence of a legal framework is the necessary, but not the sufficient condition for adopting the right decisions in a certain field and at a certain time. Of equal importance is the enforcement - on a scientifically sound basis and in good will - of the existing laws, for the use of a certain social group and, at the end of the day, of the whole society. At the same time, an excessive legal framework, enforced without responsibility, may trigger dramatic socio-economic consequences.