Vietnam likely to approve commercial growing of GM crops

Vietnam has approved the importation of several genetically-modified (GM) corn varieties and left it to the environment ministry to decide whether to plant the controversial crops on a massive scale.

The Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment must issue a bio-safety certificate before farmers can start commercially cultivating the crops, which are banned in Europe and China. It remains unclear when that decision will be made. But given the current political landscape, it seems unlikely that the ministry will do anything but give the approval.

An increasing number of Vietnamese officials and scientists have touted the need to grow GM corn to reduce Vietnam’s dependence on imports. The country currently imports 1.5 million tons of corn for animal feed every year from Brazil, Argentina, and the U.S., including GM varieties, according to the agriculture ministry.

Activists say Vietnam should carefully consider the mounting problems being faced by other GMO-crop producing countries.

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Read the full, original article: It’s official: Vietnam licenses genetically modified organisms