Савремене тенденције у примени ГМ хране - осврт на српско законодавство
Modern Trends in the Application of GM Food - Review of Serbian Legislation

Author(s): Vidoje Spasić, Dragan Vujisić
Subject(s): Law, Constitution, Jurisprudence, Agriculture
Published by: Правни факултет Универзитета у Источном Сарајеву
Keywords: Biotechnology;Plant varieties;Breeder;Genetic engineering;GMOs;GM food;
Summary/Abstract: One of the most prominent and important issues today is the market and use of GM foods in the world. In some countries the use of such food is legalized, whereas in some other ones, it is highly debated about this matter and there is strong resistance to its introduction into legislation and real life. Proponents of the use of GM foods for human and animal consumption justify it by highlighting the elimination of hunger and poverty in the world, because the population is constantly growing and food resources can not meet this growing trend. Since traditional agricultural methods are not sufficient, it is necessary to apply new biotechnological methods in the form of genetic engineering. GM food represents GMO products whose genes have been modified by inserting genes from species that are neither related nor similar. In the past years, Serbia has adopted several laws in this area, and a new one is being drafted. Existing laws are modern, positive and progressive, as they improve the legal position of breeders of new plant varieties.These regulations also contain explicit provisions that protect food security and prohibit the trade and use of GM foods. However, these provisions are later in an in¬direct way neutralized. Thus, there is a possibility of acquiring the breeder’s right on genetically modified plants, what can lead to legal production and use of GM food. In addition, although something might be prohibited by law, it can still be approved by the Ministers, which is not a good solution. Although there are certain advantages of GM foods, there are, however, way more negative effects of its use on humans, animals and the ecosystem. Some experiments conducted on animals have already demonstrated that. However, the key concern and the fear is that there is still no reliable evidence on the consequences of the use of GM food and that some of the consequences will be visible only after a long period of time. Then, it may be too late for any discussion about this matter.

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