Allowance for GMO-contaminated food sparks safety concerns

The Turkish Agriculture Ministry has permitted the production and sale of foods that have genetically-modified organism (GMO) contaminants with a regulation that triggered reactions from specialists, who dubbed the move as illegal and dangerous.

According to the change made in the GMO Regulation, if a product has 0.9 percent GMOs, the amount will be classified as a “GMO contaminant” and the commercialization of that product will be approved.

The “GMO contamination” concept was defined in the Turkish legal system for the first time with the new regulation that was published in the Official Gazette on May 29.

“If GMOs contaminate a product during the production, manufacturing, processing, preparation, transportation or storage stages or due to environmental reasons that cannot be avoided due to technical restraints or accidentally, it will be considered contaminated,” according to the new regulation.

If the genes detected in the product that have 0.9 percent or less GMO are permitted in Turkey, it will be able to be consumed.

Sector representatives and specialists are severely opposed to the change, arguing it will breach the Biosecurity Law and will lead to health risks that emerge from different calculation methods.

Ahmet Atalık, Istanbul branch head of Agriculture Engineers Chamber within the Turkish Chamber of Architects and Engineers’ (TMMOB), said the regulation is completely against the law and the 0.9 percent criteria is impossible to define scientifically.

“There is no GMO product allowed by the Biosecurity Law. The law, in summary, bans GMOs in infant food and products and supplementary foods. This regulation opens ways for GMOs in all of the foods we...