Dvorkovich stated that the good quality of Russia’s soil will allow the country to use other technological advances in agriculture but not GMO’s; thus insuring that Russian products will be "one of the cleanest in the world."

With regard to WTO compliance, Putin has stated: “We need to properly construct our work so that it is not contrary to our obligations under the WTO. But even with this in mind, we nevertheless have legitimate methods and instruments to protect our own market, and above all citizens.”

The VP of Russia’s National Association for Genetic Safety, Irina Ermakova, has said, “It is necessary to ban GMOs, to impose moratorium (on) it for 10 years. While GMOs will be prohibited, we can plan experiments, tests, or maybe even new methods of research could be developed. It has been proven that not only in Russia, but also in many other countries in the world, GMOs are dangerous. Methods of obtaining the GMOs are not perfect, therefore, at this stage, all GMOs are dangerous. Consumption and use of GMOs obtained in such way can lead to tumors, cancers and obesity among animals. Bio-technologies certainly should be developed, but GMOs should be stopped. We should stop it from spreading. ”

COMMENT: The above sounds like a reasonable approach to GMO’s and one I wish our country would investigate.