January 18 2008, 13:41

Cabinet of Ministers will claim for the labeling of GMO products imported to Ukraine

The Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine is intended to claim for the introduction of the labeling of the products with genetically modified organisms (GMO), imported to Ukraine. The Government decided to add the respective point to the action program "Ukrainian Breakthrough" approved during the meeting on the 16th of January.

The initial draft of the program stipulated the obligatory labeling only to GMO products produced in Ukraine. "Ukrainian Breakthrough" action program of the Cabinet of Ministers was actively discussed by the government members during the meeting on the 16th of January; the Ministers suggested various proposals for the document improvement.

In August past year the Cabinet of Ministers obliged the producers to locate information about the presence of GMOs in the product tissues on the packs of food products. However, the Cabinet of Ministers canceled this decision on the 21st of November and obliged State Consumer Standart Committee and other relevant institutions to prepare till December 25th the draft projects for development of the required legislative basis on the issue of GMO product labeling in view of WTO and International Plant Protection Convention requirements.

Early March All-Ukrainian State Scientific-Production Center of standardization, meteorology, certification and consumer advocacy informed about the significant quantity of food products with GMOs in Ukraine. GMOs are the organisms where genetic material is changed by method which is impossible in natural conditions. Genetically modified soybeans, and also corn, rice, tomatoes, sugar beet and other crops are the most vide-spread products of this kind.