The study focuses on economic consequences resulting from GMO use on agriculture and food sector in Lithuania. GMO is spread globally, however leading to various estimations of the fact. In their discussions on the use of GMO, in addition to economic benefits of biotechnologies to producers and the capability of increasing global food supply by means of GMO, scientists, politicians and the public emphasize threats emerging from GMO's uncontrolled spread and unexplored impact on human health. Liberalization of legal regulation of GMO use in the EU countries determines relevance of the assessment. EU legislation provides for increasing rights of state institutions to decide regarding broader use of GMO. Lithuanian authorities must make decisions in the light of various aspects of this issue, continuously follow up on GMO related processes and evaluate of economic consequences.
The objective of the study is to create a system of criteria enabling the assessment of economic consequences of the GMO use in food sector and agriculture.
The following tasks are undertaken in order to achieve the above objective:
- Definition of political, economic, social and technological factors determining global spread of GMO.
- Assessment of the state of GMO use in the EU
- Justification of methods applied for the assessment of the consequences of the GMO use.
- Assessment of financial results and potential economic alternatives related to GMO use.
- Assessment of potential economic consequences of GMO use based on accomplished calculations.
- Presentation of proposals for the development of the monitoring ratios of economic consequences related to GMO use.
For the purpose of the assessment, the factors determining global spread of GMO have been identified. Upon development of the methodology for assessment criteria of consequences on food sector and agriculture and for the monitoring ratios system, GMO use administration and value creation activities have been identified and economic consequences of GMO cultivation and GMO use in food and feed production have been assessed. Upon identification of potential economic consequences, the indicator system of monitoring GMO use in Lithuania has been developed which enables the assessment of GMO spread level and impact on competitiveness of economic entities, risk management efficiency and scale of negative consequences.
Keywords: genetically modified organisms, genetically modified products, food and agriculture, ekonomic impact.