September 8, 2010
More than 70 NGOs issued a statement on September 6 Monday calling for the removal of new Agriculture Minister Valeriu Tabara over his links to the genetically modified crop industry. Pointing to what the NGOs view as a strong conflict of interest, they asked in a joint statement: "Will Mr. Tabara be capable of representing the interests of Romanian farmers and consumers, given his contractual connections to Monsanto, the largest GMO producer in the world?"
Tabara, who took over the agriculture ministry in a reshuffle only late last week, explained in an interview with Romanian daily Evenimentul Zilei that he has indeed worked for Monsanto, but insisted that "there is nothing illegal or secret about this."
