GMO-containing goods have to be checked independently: Dariga Nazarbayeva

Goods containing GMO (genetically modified organisms) have to undergo independent checks in Kazakhstan, KazTAG reports citing chairman of Majilis Commission on Social-Cultural Development Dariga Nazarbayeva. "There is an urgent necessity for a legal framework that would ensure security of the food consumers and create good conditions for development of the genetic-engineering activities. This requires independent checks of GMO safety, their compulsory marking, strict control over compliance with the legislation, constant monitoring of the food market for presence of GMO, including the ones not allowed for sales," she said at the round-table meeting on the draft law On regulation of genetic-engineering activities. According to Nazarbayeva, Kazakhstan has recently started receiving finished food and food raw materials containing GMO. "The flow of this category of commodities has a tendency for increase and, of course, it will significantly grow after Kazakhstan enters the WTO," she said. Nazarbayeva also said that despite of the presence of the regulations in the acting legislation regulating the access of GMO to Kazakhstan's markets ony after confirmation of their safety, GMO turnover is still not controlled in Kazakhstan. "There are no effective legal mechanisms for controlling the turnover of GMO-containing goods," she added.