Biotech Updates

Misconception on Agri-biotech Dominates in Turkey

August 24, 2012

In Turkey, agricultural biotechnology is still in an introductory phase and is met with a lot of opposition. In a report by the USDA FAS GAIN, this could be due to the misunderstanding of what the technology is, as a number of pseudo-science documents were published by the media and NGOs in 2011.

However, the Biosafety Law went into effect on September 26, 2011 and the Ministry of Food, Agriculture, and Livestock established an independent Biosafety Board with government and the academe as members. Importers of agricultural products submitted applications for approval for food and feed of 22 corn, 3 soybean, 3 canola, one sugar beet and one potato starch transgenic events but only 3 soybean and 16 corn events were approved for feed use. The Board also adopts the 0.1% threshold for unapproved events in feed materials following the EU example.

Details of the report can be seen at http://gain.fas.usda.gov/Recent%20GAIN%20Publications/Agricultural%20Biotechnology%20Annual_Ankara_Turkey_7-13-2012.pdf.