Poland is the latest country to reject genetically modified organisms in their food production, thus exercising a right granted to all EU member states earlier this year.

Poland is the eleventh country so far to officially abstain from using GM food approved by the European Commission. In a drive to address national concerns, in March Brussels authorized countries to opt out of genetically engineered crop cultivation if such a step is to be taken as a safety measure to protect not only human health and the environment, but also consumer interests and the internal market. - See more at: http://www.thenews.pl/1/9/Artykul/223049,Poland-opts-out-of-GMOs#sthash.G4igiRcd.dpuf

Polish President Bronislaw Komorowski has recently signed an amendment on the law of animal feeding, which allows the use of genetically modified soybeans in animal nutrition starting 2016. He noted that this decision is “economically and socially reasonable.” He added that without this amendment, poultry and pork producers in the country could face difficulties. However, the decision was criticised by the Ministry of agriculture. “Poland should be free of GMO products. There are a lot of reasons for this for example the health of people, the protection of environment and the need for the maintenance of biological diversity”, said Mark Kalembe Minister of Agriculture of Poland, in an interview.

Poland has now officially imposed a ban on Monsanto’s MON810 GMO maize. Recent protests by beekeepers and anti-GMO activists have resulted in a successful conclusion. [...] Minister of Agriculture in the Polish Government, Marek Sawicki says that as well as being linked to range of health ailments, the pollen originating from this GM strain might actually be devastating to the already reduced bee population in the country. “The decree is in the works. It introduces a complete ban on the MON810 strain of maize in Poland,” Sawicki told the press.

Environmentalists demonstrated outside Poland’s parliament building on Tuesday before the first reading of an amended law on GM seeds on Wednesday. Last August, President Bronislaw Komorowski vetoed a bill that had been criticised for letting genetically modified crops in through the back door. The August bill had been prepared after a 2006 law banning GM crops in Poland was referred to the EU Court of Justice for failing to comply with EU policy.

President Bronislaw Komorowski vetoed a new controversial seeds bill, which fails to properly regulate GMO production but does not ban it [...] Though he himself is not against GMOs, he says the bill is a ”bad and irresponsible” piece of legislation with controversial provisions relating to GMOs included at the last moment. ”It is bad legislative practice to throw socially controversial problems into a bill at the very last moment,” Komorowski said last week.

The environment ministry has prepared a new bill on GMO, which does not include a formal ban on the cultivation of transgenic plants, but provides tools which allow to practically exclude GMOs. Former environment minister professor Jan Szyszko said that the bill practically allows regions of Poland to remain GMO-free zones. Poland is seen as an ecologically clear country in the European Union, which produces more food than is needed in the country, but is restricted by EU quota.

Poland continues to defy the European Commission’s law on genetically modified products by banning the entry of GMO goods into the country. It has only 20 days to respond to EC’s accusation that the country’s laws violate EC regulations. The continued ban may result in fines of as much as $381,407 (260,000 euro) a day. A ruling by the EU court that Poland violated the law will also expose Warsaw to lawsuits GMO trading firms may file against the Polish government.

Greenpeace yesterday made a legal submission to the European Commission arguing that Poland’s draft national legislation on the use of Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) is consistent with the relevant EU law. Greenpeace made its submission in the context of a formal European Commission notification procedure on the draft Polish law. This procedure could represent the first step of a challenge by the EU Executive of the Polish national GMO law.