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Capacity building workshop followed by round-table discussion on Genetically Modified (GM) Food, Organic Food and Consumer Concerns held by ARC Fund on May 12, 2005 in Sofia
 A Capacity-building workshop on genetically modified (GM) food and organic food as well as on the respective agricultural practices and regulatory frameworks was organized on May 12, 2005 at the Center for the Study of Democracy, Sofia. This initiative was part of the activities foreseen under the Empowering Bulgarian Civil Society on GMOs and Consumer Protection project within the framework of the EU PHARE Civil Society Development Programme 2002.
The workshop and the round table discussion in Sofia were the first in a series of similar events envisaged to be carried out in the towns of Sofia, Vidin, Gabrovo, Varna, Bourgas and Plovdiv on May 12, 17, 18, 19, 20 and 26, 2005, respectively. All workshops and round tables are organized with the support of the Innovation Relay Centre – Bulgaria.
Both events in Sofia were attended by representatives of diverse public institutions and organizations: Ministry of Ecology and Waters, National Forage and Seed Service, National Agricultural Advisory Service, Executive Agency “Bulgarian Accreditation Service”, Bulgarian Industrial Association, Bulgarian Academy of Science, AgroBioInstitute, Federation of Consumers in Bulgaria, National Center of Public Health Protection, “BioSelena” Foundation for organic production, “Sunny day” Foundation, “For Earth” Association, National Association “Alter-Nativa”, NGO “Eco-Southwest”, NGO “BlueLink”, NGO “AgroLink”; “Food Industry and Trade” Magazine, “ElBy Bulgaricum” Company, Center for the Study of Democracy.
An information package on the issues of key importance to the end consumers of food, to the consumer protection organizations, the business and the state authorities dealing with these matters was disseminated among the participants. The workshop’s agenda was designed following the structure of the informational package, the development of which had been entrusted to an expert panel constituted by academic, governmental and NGO representatives. Presentations were given by Dr. Nevena Alexandrova (AgroBioInstitute, topics covered: Biosafety and Risk assessment of GMO, Co-existence of agricultural practices); Dr. Galya Tonkovska (expert on GMO, Biodiversity Department, Ministry of Ecology and Waters; topics covered: Bulgarian regulatory framework on GMO, Handling requests on contained use, deliberate release and placing on the market of GMO); Ms. Iveta Minkova (Federation of consumers in Bulgaria, topic covered: Attitude of Bulgarian consumers towards organic food); Mr. Kalin Anastasov (NGO “Eco-Southwest”, topic covered: Attitude of Bulgarian consumers towards GM food) and Ms. Denitsa Marinova (ARC Fund, topics covered: GMO, GM food and organic food – definitions, basic principles, statistics).
The round table discussion ended up with a number of recommendations for more efficient consumer protection and access to unbiased information on biotech and organic products:
effective application of existing legislation on labeling and certification by the respective controlling bodies concerning organic food and GM products when placed on the market (recommendation provoked by the existing misleading labels of eco-products);
laboratories performing tests of organic and GM products to be accredited and to stay independent in order to avoid any conflict of interests;
funding for organic production to be at equal footing such as investments in biotech in order to facilitate the several years transition period to organic farms and to lower the price of organic products;
introduction of each GM crop in Bulgaria to be peer reviewed on a “case-by-case” basis by multidisciplinary expert groups including plant protection specialists;
after having the GMO Law entering in force, all food products already placed on the market to be inspected by the Ministry of Health;
Ministry of Economy to perform survey on organic products placed on the Bulgarian marker (no official data on quantity, pricing and consumption are available so far);
Governmental policy towards promotion of organic stands in major supermarket chains;
The following definitions to be revised for avoiding misleading meanings i.e. “biofoods” (all foods have biological origin), “organic product” (“organic farming” is the term used in EU), “genetically modified” (modified to be changed by “genetically altered”);
Investments in production of certified organic seed and planting material to be made by the Government (lowering the price of organic food, strengthening confidence of consumers in origin of organic products).
All recommendations generated at the 6 round tables throughout Bulgaria will be summarized in a brochure with recommendations for political measures towards better consumer awareness on GM food and organic food, promotion of consumers’ interests and rights and the effective involvement of consumers in the decision making processes.
Resources:
Agenda of the event (Available only in Bulgarian, PDF 96.9 KB)
The project website
Information material for the capacity building workshops (Available only in Bulgarian, PDF 1, 46 MB)
Leaflet - New Foods - What do We Need to Be Aware of to Make Our Choice (Available only in Bulgarian, PDF 398 KB)
For further information, please contact:
Ms. Denitsa Marinova or Ms.Christina Nedeva
ARC Fund
6, Gourko Str., 1000 Sofia
tel: (+359 2) 9867557; 9867887
fax: (+359 2) 9801833
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