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On January 26, on the initiative of the RA NA Standing Committee on Territorial Administration, Local Self-Government, Agriculture and Environment parliamentary hearings on the theme Genetically Modified Organisms (GMO) – Alternative or Compulsion, where the RA NA deputies, members of the government, representatives of the international and non-governmental organizations, scientists and those responsible for the sphere.

In his opening remarks the Committee Chair Vardevan Grigoryan noted that the National Assembly of the previous convocation considered the RA draft law on Vital Security of the Use of the GMOs which in the first reading was adopted but afterwards it was taken back from the government.

To Mr Grigoryan’s assessment, the goal of the parliamentary hearings is to discuss the recommendations and remarks of all concerned sides.

The RA Deputy Minister of Agriculture Ashot Harutyunyan in his key report presented the data on the activities of Monsanto Company.

Ashot Harutyunyan presented the events and steps implemented by the Ministry on GMO. A Commission was set up with the participation of those responsible from the Ministries of Agriculture, Health Care and Nature Protection, the representatives of the NGO, the scientists to discuss the issues relating to the regulation of the secure control of the GMO use.

The RA Deputy Minister of Nature Protection Khachik Hakobyan, presenting the RA ratified treaties in the sphere, also touched upon the procedure of the debate of the draft law on Vital Security of the Use of the GMO adopted in the first reading in the parliament of the previous convocation.

The Acting Head of the Medical Aid Policy Department of the RA Ministry of Health Davit Melik-Nubaryan referred to the possible impact of the GMO on human health and the international approaches to them.

The Deputy Chair of the Committee Araik Hovhannisyan, thanking the participants for the effective debates noted that the goal of the hearings was to understand the procedures in this sphere in our country. He highlighted the comparison of the international experience with the possibilities of Armenia.

In his final speech the Committee Chair Vardevan Grigoryan has assured that the Committee would be consistent in its works, taking into consideration that the issue under debate relates to the public and especially the consumers’ interests.