Tuesday, November 7 2017 19:09

ArmInfo.Since 2006, Monsanto has been selling its products on the Armenian market. This is stated in the explanation of the US Embassy in Armenia about the public  resonance in connection with the possible entry into the Armenian market of the American GMO giant - the Monsanto company.

Speaking about the objectives of the recent presentation of Monsanto  and Valmont companies in Armenia, the US Embassy explains that the  event was held in the context of US policy on stimulating US  investments in the Armenian economy. Nevertheless, as the American  diplomatic mission emphasized, the decision on cooperation with these  companies should be made by Armenian farmers and agro-companies.  Meanwhile, the authorized structures of Armenia are completely  unaware of the entry of GMO products into the Armenian market and the  activities of companies engaged in the production and sale of  genetically modified products.

Neither in the Ministry of Agriculture of Armenia nor in the State  Security Service for the Supply of Food, they were unable to give a  clear answer to ArmInfo question whether Monsanto is operating on the  Armenian market. In both structures it was only assumed that the  company, if it is represented on the Armenian market, it is most  likely under a different brand.

During our investigation it was also found out that there are no  statistics in Armenia about how many GMO products enter the country's  market, and especially, there are no laboratory tests of these  products for safety. However, in a conversation with the  correspondent of ArmInfo the press secretary of the State Service for  Food Safety Nvard Arakelyan told optimistic news - in 2018 the  structure intends to carry out laboratory analyzes of GMO products  entering the Armenian market as a priority. Earlier in the  conversation with the correspondent of ArmInfo the press secretary of  the Ministry of Agriculture Ani Smbatyan said that after public  resonance and publications in the media, Minister Ignaty Arakelyan  instructed to study the situation connected with the activities of  Monsanto in Armenia. Today she said that information on this matter  will be provided next week.

Nevertheless, Smbatyan stressed that the Ministry is in favor of the  development of organic agriculture in Armenia. "Deputy Minister of  Agriculture of Armenia Armen Harutyunyan also stressed this during a  presentation organized by the US Embassy," she said, however,  stressing that there is no agreement on cooperation between the  Armenian Ministry of Agriculture and Monsanto.

On November 1, by the efforts of the US Embassy in Armenia, a  presentation of the activities of companies and Monsanto took place  in Yerevan.

Both companies are well known in the world market: they sell and  service mechanized irrigation equipment, and there are no complaints  about it. The same can not be said about the transnational  corporation Monsanto - this company is engaged in the production of  transgenic seeds and poisons for their processing. And then the  temporary charge d'affaires of the US Embassy in Armenia, Rafik  Mansour, marked their entry into the Armenian market, two years ago  Armenia banned the production of GMOs, but the import of food  containing genetically modified components is allowed in the presence  of special markings. That is, the market as such is not protected  from such products, even if it appears on the shelves with special  markings.

However, in an interview with journalists, Alexander Zvyagintsev,  sales manager for Monsanto in the CIS, assured that the company will  not offer Armenian partners to work with genetically modified  products, as they "do not do it in countries where it is prohibited."  But for about 20 years now, the company has been selling seeds in  Armenia and advising farmers. The topic of a possible entry into the  Armenian market of the American GMO giant was not left indifferent by  the soloist of the System of a Down rock-group Serge Tankian who, in  his Facebook page, called on Armenia to "stay away" from the American  company Monsanto. In particular, he wrote: "Because of its policy,  Monsanto has earned a reputation in the United States and Europe for  a" corporation of evil. " Unlike in the USA, in Armenia I have the  opportunity to enjoy the taste of ecologically clean, crispy apples -  a product of long-term agricultural work. Let it go on like this.  "Thanks to Monsanto, I can not find such apples in the US," writes  Tankian. Between those, at the end of September, The Guardian  published an unmasking article that Monsanto had officially spent  lobbying for its interests in the European Parliament about? 300  000-? 400? 000 per year. An internal correspondence was also made  public, where the company's employees discuss ways to better prevent  the normal study of the glyphosate pesticide and its recognition as  dangerous, and correspond with some American officials and scientists  about it. Later it was also discovered that the European organization  EFSA, responsible for product safety, copied its 2015 report on  glyphosate from the Monsanto 2012 authorship report.