"In accordance with the spirit of the Constitution, we cannot allow another GM maize variety to enter commercial cultivation within the European Union and Hungary", the Ministry of Rural Development's Parliamentary State Secretary Gyula Budai declared at the 5th stop of the Roadshow for a GMO-free Hungary series in Hódmezővásárhely, south-east Hungary.

The European Union is planning the authorisation of a new, genetically modified species of maize. The authorisation of the new variety is first discussed and voted on at a meeting of relevant Ministers of the EU Member States, where there is unlikely to be a quality majority required to support or dismiss the proposal for authorisation. Consequently, the European Commission will decide on whether to provide authorisation for cultivation, as a result of which the genetically modified maize variety is expected to be authorised for cultivation throughout the territory of the European Union. Hungary is doing everything possible to prevent this from happening.

"In accordance with the provisions of our Constitution we are engaged in a serious battle and are consistently putting forward our case not only at a domestic level, but on every single European Union and international forum", Gyula Budai said. The State Secretary emphasised that Hungary continues to struggle persistently within the European Union to ensure that the authorisation of GM crops falls within the national scope of authority instead of Brussels deciding what GMOs can and cannot be cultivated in Hungary, which decisions can then only be overruled following a complicated and lengthy legal procedure.

The Parliamentary State Secretary also pointed out that in October the National Assembly had adopted new legislation regarding the cultivation of GMOs, which promulgates the Nagoya - Kuala Lumpur Supplementary protocol on Liability and Redress in Hungary. This new piece of legislation also concerns the strict regulation of GMOs and the application of the precautionary principle with regard to their cultivation, as well as determining the framework for possible compensation and liability in relation to damages caused as a result of their use. As such, it is in total harmony with Hungary's strategy on the issue of GMOs. The fact that the EU and every single one of its member states joined this new international protocol in 2011 also bore an important political and diplomatic message, in view of the fact that there had been no international regulation within this field until that time.

At the stops of the series of events entitled the Roadshow for a GMO-free Hungary, experts hold lectures on the effects of genetically modified organisms on health, the environment, the economy and society. In Hódmezővásárhely, retired Professor of Nutrition Zsuzsanna Bardócz pointed our that the testing of the currently available genetically modified plants and the foods produced using them had not been conducted with suitable scientific thoroughness, and so their consumption may have unforeseen risks. Program Director of the Hungarian National Society of Conservationists Róbert Fidrich explained that profits from the cultivation of genetically modified plants is realised by the owner of the patent for GM seeds and their cultivation bears no advantages for farmers. In her lecture, GMO expert from the Ministry of Rural Development Rita Andorkó spoke about the serious social and economic problems related to the cultivation and use of GMOs.

The Strategic Department of the Ministry of Rural Development also launched a so-called GMO Map this year, which is available at www.gmoterkep.hu, and which presents the various cases that have arisen throughout the world with relation to GMOs to help the public understand the associated risks.

(Press Office of the Ministry of Rural Development)