Kyrgyzstan has long ceased to be a country known for its environmentally friendly food products. According to experts, GMO products are available on our store shelves, and farmers are actively growing crops from genetically modified seeds.

Kuban Matraimov, director of the Kyrgyz Republic branch of the Central Asia Regional Environmental Center (CAREC), spoke with 24.kg about whether there are GMO products in Kyrgyzstan, how they enter the country, and whether Kyrgyz citizens should be concerned about genetically modified foods.

— At the meeting of the Council on Sustainable Development in the Context of Climate Change in the Jogorku Kenesh, you said that a law on GMOs needs to be passed. Does that mean genetically modified products are used in Kyrgyzstan?

— At the meeting of the Council on Sustainable Development in the Context of Climate Change in the Jogorku Kenesh, you said that a law on GMOs needs to be passed. Does that mean genetically modified products are used in Kyrgyzstan?

— What are GMOs? Scientists take genetic material from seeds and combine it with genetic material from another variety or organism. Or they may add a gene from an entirely different plant species or insect, and so on. This is done to increase crop yields and make the product more resistant to pests and diseases. For example, a scorpion gene has been added to certain plant genes to prevent pests from harming the plants. Now, varieties are being developed that can be more resilient to climate change and won’t die from water shortages, frost, or herbicides.

No GMOs are produced in Kyrgyzstan. We don’t have the laboratories or scientists capable of genetically modifying certain types of crops. And, of course, that’s a good thing for us—for now.

— What GMO products are currently available?

— Do you eat corn on your way to Issyk-Kul? Have you noticed that corn is now sold here year-round, rather than just in the summer like it used to be? This corn is grown using genetically modified seeds.

GMO products in Kyrgyzstan consist primarily of corn, soybeans, rice, and certain types of wheat. There may also be some types of seedlings, although farmers claim these are the result of selective breeding of various varieties; however, there have been no inspections to date to confirm or refute this. These may include certain varieties of apples, pears, raspberries, currants, and strawberries. Seedlings and seeds of new varieties are being imported more and more frequently; these varieties yield higher harvests, look better, and are resistant to pests.

As we know, there are a great many GMOs in cooking spices, which is why they give our food such a good flavor.

— Everyone has come to think that GMOs are something to be afraid of. Are these products really harmful?

— The medical community has not yet provided a clear answer as to how harmful GMOs are to the body. If you compare the quality of GMO and non-GMO foods, they may not differ—they have the same fiber, the same vitamins, and the same taste. But if you dig deeper, there is still a modified component in GMO products that could somehow affect the human body.

But if we frequently consume genetically modified foods, it’s possible that genetic changes will occur not in us, but in our children and grandchildren. To find out if this is the case, the medical community would need to monitor the health of several generations of people over, say, 50 years. This is a long process. At present, the medical community does not have a definitive answer to the question of whether genetically modified foods are harmful or not.

It turns out that each person decides for themselves whether to consume products containing GMOs or to avoid them. At any rate, there isn’t a single documented case of a person undergoing any kind of genetic change due to GMOs—whether something grew on them or, conversely, fell off.

— Can GMOs affect anything other than humans themselves?

— GMOs can affect the environment, and the effects will become apparent much more quickly. If a farmer uses genetically modified seeds to grow a particular crop, cross-pollination may occur between conventional varieties and GMO varieties, and we must draw conclusions from this. Over the course of several years, this can be studied to determine how the conventional crop has changed. Incidentally, there are examples where bees do not pollinate plants grown from genetically modified seeds; they somehow sense that the crops are not natural.

GMO products can also affect livestock farming. For example, animals are fed feed grown from GMO seeds. We’ve already conducted inspections of farms, and no GMOs were found in the cows’ milk. That’s certainly good news, but we need to look further ahead at the offspring of these cows to see if there will be any changes in them. The same applies to fish farms, because GMO feed is often used there as well.

Scientists are currently divided into two camps—some claim that GMOs are harmful, while others argue the opposite. But the world’s population is growing, and I think that in order to feed so many billions of people, countries need to take certain actions; that’s why, I believe, they began growing GMOs. These varieties are resistant to external factors and pests, and they are more productive. Major countries such as China, Argentina, the United States, and Mexico have not signed the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety, which regulates the transboundary movement, handling, and use of all living modified organisms. These countries produce GMO products themselves and sell them both domestically and to other countries.

— Can GMOs only be found in plants, or can they also be found in animal products? For example, if cows or other animals are fed GMO feed, could their meat be genetically altered?

— We haven’t conducted any such studies; the impact of GMO feed on animal meat hasn’t been investigated. However, imported meat products can be inspected both through documentation and laboratory testing. Our laboratories identify the type of meat and the animal from which it comes. They can also test for the presence of GMOs.

There are no reports anywhere in the world that genetically modified organisms have been detected in the meat itself. If animals are fed GMO feed, their genes do not change. Laboratory tests may show that meat products may contain traces of GMO feed, but the genes themselves do not change.

— How are GMO products regulated in our country? Who decides which products can be used and which cannot, in what quantities, and so on?

— The Eurasian Economic Union has its own technical regulations governing the use of GMOs. According to these regulations, the use of GMOs is permitted up to 1 percent. This percentage indicates the presence of GMOs (a quantitative measure) in the product.

Therefore, one of the objectives of our project is to help establish a mechanism for cooperation among the relevant government agencies in regulating GMOs.

Unfortunately, Kyrgyzstan was late in passing its biosafety law—it was not enacted until 2025—and implementing the provisions of this law requires subordinate legislation. Our government has established an interagency working group that has begun to assess which regulatory documents are needed.

Our project, “Implementation of the National Biosafety Mechanism in the Kyrgyz Republic in Accordance with the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety,” which is funded by the FAO and the Global Environment Facility, primarily assists the Ministry of Natural Resources, Ecology, and Technical Supervision in developing regulatory documents, as well as other government agencies in strengthening their technical and human capacity in this area. While drafting regulatory documents, our experts concluded that a separate law is needed to regulate GMOs in Kyrgyzstan, a point we raised at the meeting of the Council on Sustainable Development in the Context of Climate Change in the Jogorku Kenesh.

We are also working to establish an interstate mechanism for cooperation among government agencies so that when GMO products are imported into our country, we can trace the supply chain from customs all the way back to the farmer. This regulatory document must specify how the government should respond to GMOs, which regulations should govern them, whether laboratory testing is required, to which government agencies the laboratory should submit its findings, and how the government agency should make the final decision on whether to approve or ban a GMO product in Kyrgyzstan.

— Many food packages often say “GMO-free.” Is there a way to verify in Kyrgyzstan whether a product is truly non-GMO?

— Here in Kyrgyzstan, we have laboratories that determine whether a product contains GMOs or not. There are two laboratories run by the Ministry of Agriculture—in Bishkek and Osh—and two laboratories run by the Ministry of Health—in Bishkek and Osh. In addition, another laboratory operated by “Kyrgyzstandard” began operations last year. In addition to determining the presence or absence of GMOs, they can also identify their quantitative composition.

However, our laboratories are unable to determine exactly which GMO it is—that is, to identify the modified portion and determine which plant or insect genes were introduced. This requires additional equipment and trained specialists.

If people believe a product is GMO-free, they will naturally assume it is safe and buy more of it. However, in order to label their products as “GMO-free,” manufacturers must have their products tested for the presence of GMOs and obtain a certificate from Kyrgyzstandart confirming the quality of their products. This agency is currently responsible for evaluating each product and issuing quality certificates. Unfortunately, many manufacturers, especially small ones, do not undergo this certification process.

The problem is that consumers are often unaware of the presence of GMOs in food. For example, you’ve probably heard a lot about the dangers of soy, right? And people who think they don’t eat it may not realize that this isn’t actually the case. That’s because soy is very common in our food products—it’s found in things like sausages, hot dogs, and ready-made meals in cafes and restaurants.

It just so happens that sometimes neither the businesspeople who import GMO products or seeds nor the farmers who buy these seeds to grow crops are aware that these are genetically modified products. When we asked them, they said these were simply new varieties. They buy what is financially beneficial to them because it yields a higher harvest.

Sometimes, even customs officials fail to identify GMOs, even though all relevant information should be included in the accompanying documentation for imported products and seeds. Therefore, Customs Service employees must be well-trained in how to accurately identify GMOs in the documentation for imported products.

— In your opinion, how far could humanity go in the use of GMOs? You mentioned that some countries are actively using them—are there any countries that ban GMOs, and what path should Kyrgyzstan take?

— Hypothetically, one could say that all agricultural products will be genetically modified many years from now, when the Earth’s population is much larger. Naturally, the issue of access to natural resources will become acute. And here, our hopes rest particularly on scientists, who will be able to develop varieties that are safe for both humans and the environment.

There are currently countries that do not welcome GMOs—primarily European Union member states—but they, too, have their own minimum requirements for the use of GMO products.

Kyrgyzstan has a law “On Organic Production” that generally bans GMOs in Kyrgyzstan—though, of course, not nationwide, but only in regions where organic farming is practiced. These are primarily the Issyk-Kul and Naryn regions. Only organically certified products should be grown in these two regions. But whether this can be achieved is highly questionable, given that we import GMO products and seeds and use chemical fertilizers and herbicides.

Kyrgyzstan acceded to the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety back in 2005. This protocol regulates the transboundary movement, transport, and use of GMOs. However, until 2023, government agencies took no action to regulate GMOs, and no regulatory documents were drafted.

Over the past 10–15 years, the use of GMO products has been on the rise in Kyrgyzstan, and our businesspeople have begun importing more new varieties of various crops, vegetables, and fruits. The current trend will likely continue. However, our population is still small compared to that of our neighbors, so we can regulate GMOs over the next 30, 40, or 50 years without any major problems. If the country’s population exceeds 30 million, then, of course, the amount of GMO products used will also increase.

Источник: https://24.kg/obschestvo/376356_kukuruza_soya_pshenitsa_ris_kakie_produktyi_sgmo_upotreblyayut_kyirgyizstantsyi/