www.checkbiotech.org ; www.raupp.info ; www.czu.cz

Poland's government wants to ban sowing and curb imports of genetically
modified (GMO) plants to protect its image as an environmentally-friendly
state, Deputy Farm Minister Jan Krzysztof Ardanowski said, April 2006 Story
by Ewa Krukowska.

No biotech seeds have been planted in Poland and the biggest food producer
among the 10 new states that joined the European Union in 2004 fears
potential future sowings of GMO crops could lead to contaminatation of other
crops.

The minority ruling government party has long said it wanted to make Poland
"GMO-free" and parliamentary deputies have been working on several draft
bills on the issue.

"The government's stance is that planting of GMOs should not be allowed. It
permits sales of GMO products provided that they are clearly labelled,"
Ardanowski told Reuters in a brief interview on the sidelines of a GMO
seminar. Story by Ewa Krukowska.

"If we allowed GMOs, our image of a country supporting organic agriculture
and producing healthy food would be tarnished. And with the still scanty
research on co-existence, noone can guarantee we would avoid contamination,"
he said.

"Coexistence" laws -- or rules for biotech crops from organic and
traditional crops -- have become the most controversial area in the biotech
debate across the European Union.

Environmental groups in the bloc say no "live" GMOs should be grown in
Europe until an EU-wide coexistence law is in place. The biotech industry
takes a very different view, saying there are no problems with growing GMO
crops next to non-GMO types.

Industry experts say that Poland would face strong objections from Brussels
to any attempt to ban GMO plantings, but Ardanowski said Warsaw would try to
word law in line with EU rules or even seek changes to the bloc's biotech
policy.

Some analysts have said one way to effectively ban GMO plantings would be to
push restrictive coexistence regulations through the Polish parliament.

Ardanowski also said Warsaw intended to curb imports of GMO soybean meal, an
important compoment of animal feed.

"The tendency is also to curb imports of GMO soybean meal, but we must start
looking for an alternative source of protein for animal feed," Ardanowski
said.

Market talk that Poland may ban imports of soybean meal has unnerved grain
traders and food producers, who fear an increase of animal feed costs.

According to estimates by the Polish Institute for Agricultural Economics,
more than 2 million tonnes of soybean meal were brought into the central
European country last year.

[www.planetark.com]

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