3 ASSOCIATIONS STAGE PROTEST AGAINST GENETICALLY MANIPULATED FOOD

OSIJEK, July 23 (Hina) - Three Croatian green associations staged protest rallies against genetically manipulated food in Osijek on Friday. Apart from discussions and a round table, the 'Green Action', 'Green Forum' and 'The Osijek Green', will tomorrow also organise a protest rally in front of the administration building of the food processing industry 'Belje' d.d, which has been conducting experiments with genetically manipulated corn on fields near the Baranja village of Karanac, the president of Zagreb's 'Green Action', Toni Vidan, told reporters in Osijek. "We want to stop the experiments which have started in several areas in Croatia and which had been approved by the Agriculture and Forestry Ministry, despite the Croatian National Sabor's decision that such experiments should not be carried out until necessary laws are adopted", said Vidan. "We are aware of the difficult situation in agriculture, but we don't think that these processes will improved it, especially since the European Union is opposing genetically manipulated food. The application of such programmes would only make our attempts to approach European integration processes more difficult", said Vidan. Efforts of the 'Green Action' have been supported by the Croatian Farmers' Association (HSS), with which the 'Green Action' has agreed to cooperate more closely. One of the aims of the three associations is the imposing of a ban on the import of genetically grown seed and clear entries for imports containing genetically manipulated organisms. Today's rally was supported by Osijek Mayor Zlatko Kramaric. (hina) rml