C
hapter III of the Gene Technology Act and the Decree 86/2006. of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development set down the so-called coexistence measures, on the cultivation of genetically modified, conventional and organic plants i.e. side by side cultivation of conventional, organic and genetically modified plants.
The relevant legislation stipulates what a farmer must do to prevent the uncontrolled spread of the GM plants that is cultivated and the contamination of other, GMO-free products. This is what we call coexistence; the side by side cultivation of GM organisms and non-GM organisms.
The scope of related measures, also according to the European Commission's 2013 Recommendation (Recommendation 2003/556/EC), is relatively wide: perhaps the most important include the maintaining of a buffer zone that decreases the chances of cross-pollination to a minimum, the separate storage of genetically modified and traditional seeds, and other regulations such as the fact that farmers should cooperate to cultivate plants that flower at different times to ensure that no cross-pollination takes place.
