"In passing this law, we fully meet our commitments to the EU in the accession process, and at the same time we are defending Bulgaria's interests," Dzhevdet Chakurov, head of the parliamentary commission on environment, told Reuters.

Deputies voted to ban, as of June 1, a list of foods including wheat, tobacco, grapes, roses and all fruits and vegetables, as well as produce already banned in the Union and those with marker genes for antibiotic resistance.

Experiments on tobacco, roses, and grapes were also banned, as they Bulgaria's main agriculture products, but biotech those on all other products such as maize and wheat will still be allowed in controlled environments.

The list did not include genetically modified maize or soy, but was left open so the agriculture and environment ministries may add items in future.

Other biotech foods not on the list will remain strictly regulated and must be clearly labelled as containing genetically modified products. Violators will face fines of 1.0 million levs ($685,900).

Environment groups accuse leading biotech firms -- such as US-based Monsanto -- of using poor ex-communist states as an entry way to the rest of Europe, where many people fear GMO foods could be harmful to humans.

But the issue has never sparked wider debate in Bulgaria or fellow EU candidate Romania, which is hoping to develop large-scale GMO production in coming years.

With Bulgaria's average wages at around 150 euros ($201.5) a month -- the lowest level of any EU member or candidate state -- most of its eight million people are more concerned with day-to-day survival than the biogenetic content of their food.

In 2001, Bulgarian farmers planted some 13,000 hectares with GMO maize, which agriculture officials say was purely for experimental purposes.

That fell to 6,200 the following year, and there were no plantings of GMO maize last year.