Serbian cities ban cultivation of GMOs, activists call for national support

Serbia has received plenty of attention for its ban on genetically modified organisms, especially from Monsanto , the United States and other groups that want it to accept GMOs and join the World Trade Organization. There is an ongoing debate about the best course of action to take, and many believe that the ban should be removed in favor of the kind of restrictions currently in place in Russia and Switzerland.

Despite this mounting pressure, the Serbian people care more for their health and fiercely oppose GMOs. On February 6, 2013, Aleksandar Veljic, a spokesperson for the Serbian Association of Medical Workers and an anti-GMO activist, spoke to the National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia about the consequences of GMOs and the wishes of the people to ban their cultivation.

Viljec said he was glad that Monsanto had "given up, al least for now, on East Europe and has not received a loan from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development." He then states his concern that the Serbian "Parliament intends to amend the existing national law against the import of GMOs in order for Serbia to become a member of the WTO."

Viljec then announced news that was cause for applause throughout the public hearing: "On the proposal of the local parliament group, the local Parliament in Kula unanimously adopted a Declaration against the GMO cultivation in that municipality. Therefore, after Cack municipality, this is the second city in Serbia and the first city in the region of Vojvodina, which raised an anti-GMO bulwark." He then explains that the declaration is only against the cultivation of GMO food and excludes useful medicine.

At a previoius meeting, Viljec announced that the village of Pivnice had launched production of organic food. He then calls on parliament to support efforts for organic agriculture and make Picnice an example to other villages and municipalities. He warns of the dangers of GMOs, saying how, once GMO food consumption makes the Serbian people sick, pharmaceutical companies will come in to heal them for a fee, leading to an expensive vicious cycle. He calls on municipalities across the nation to follow in Kula's footsteps and "adopt a declaration against the cultivation of GMO in food industry."

"I therefore appeal to this highest authority in the Republic of Serbia to follow the same example and enact a national declaration against GMO. Thank you," Viljec concluded to the National Assembly to a round of applause.