The status of agricultural biotechnology and biosafety in Romania.

Abstract

Since 2000, Romania had in place a legal Biosafety Framework with the objective of protecting human health and the environment, in accordance with the precautionary principle (Government Ordinance 49/2000). In 2000, Romania was the only country in Europe approving market release of two genetically modified (GM) crops: Roundup Ready (RR) soybean and Superior New Leaf potato. GM potato has not been commercialized. On the contrary, RR soybean was grown on thousands of hectares. Romania is one of the few European countries with favourable conditions for soybean production and, in 2006, was one of the nine countries in the world that cultivated this GM crop. As member of the European Union beginning with 2007, Romania must comply with the rules for placing on the market, traceability and labelling of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) as laid down by EU legislation. Consequently, as of 2007, Roundup Ready soybean cultivation was banned in Romania. Today, Bt-maize expressing the insecticidal protein Cry1Ab from Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) in the only GM crop approved for cultivation in the EU. In 2007, Bt hybrids were grown on about 300 ha and in 2009, on about 3000 ha, especially in areas where the lepidopterean target pest caused serious infestations. In this overview, we address the current status of Romanian biosafety legislation, agricultural biotechnology research, deliberate release and commercialization of GM crops. We also present the main stakeholders and their expectations regarding the development of agricultural biotechnology in Romania