Despite the permissive attitude often encountered within the European Union, Hungary remains committed to maintaining a GMO-free strategy, the Ministry of Rural Development's Deputy State Secretary KatalinTóth said on Wednesday on the next to last stop of the "Roadshow for a GMO-free Hungary" lecture series in Szekszárd, South Hungary.

What we would like to achieve is for EU member states to have the opportunity to decide whether to let genetically modified organisms into their countries and whether or not to permit their inclusion in public cultivation, the Deputy State Secretary stressed.

She reminded those present that there is a strict law on GMOs in effect in Hungary, and the country was the firs of the Central and Eastern European nations to adopt the legislation in 1998, which became even stricter with its amendment in 2012.

Research results on the effects of GMOs on health and the environment must be properly examined, the Deputy State Secretary said. "It is important that we find away to maintain the ban on the public cultivation of genetically modified organisms", she added.

The Ministry of Rural Development has developed several important documents and strategies on biodiversity and ecological farming recently, in accordance with European Union objectives and directives. I could not talk to you about these if Hungary were not GMO-free, she noted.

Katalin Tóth also spoke about the fact that according to public opinion polls, the majority of people are against including genetically modified plants in public cultivation in Hungary, and would like to know more about the issue.

One of Hungary's significant treasures is the fact that it rejects the cultivation of genetically modified crops, Chief Advisor of the National Food Chain Safety Office Boldizsár Vajda stressed. Research results contradict the claims made by those who support genetic modification, according to which plants of this kind require less chemicals. Viable weeds adapt and in fact thrive even if GMO seeds are used, he emphasised.

The final stop of the eight-stop Roadshow organised by the Ministry of Rural Development will be held in Budapest on 5 December.

(MTI)