Farmers mobilise in Strasbourg: Say NO to GMOs!
Joint press release from 70+ European organisations
A coalition of farmers, breeders, processors, beekeepers, environmentalists and citizens will mobilise in Strasbourg on 16 June to call upon MEPs to reject the deregulation of GMOs- modified by new genomic techniques (GMOs-NGTs) in a European Parliament vote on 17 June.
Flags in front of European Parliament Attribution: Syced, CC0 1.0, via Wikimedia Commons
The proposal for a new regulation on plants obtained by NGTs constitutes a complete deregulation of GMOs-NGTs: it plans to remove risk assessment, traceability and detection methods, liability rules and protection measures against contamination, as well as product labelling for consumers. It goes against farmers’, breeders’, beekeepers’ and citizens’ rights to produce and eat GMO-free and will seriously endanger organic and conventional non-GMO value chains. If adopted, it will cause irreversible economic, agricultural, health and environmental damages and will severely mislead citizens.
The rejection of this proposal is the only way to effectively protect existing GMO-free farming systems, their economic value and the thousands of jobs associated with them, as well as the rights of European consumers. We therefore call on the Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) to reject this proposal and regulate GMOs-NGTs in the current GMO legislation (Directive 2001/18/EC).
NGTs are all covered by patents, owned by a few large multinational seed companies. Without detection methods, farmers, small and medium seed companies and other operators will be unprotected in case of contamination. These patents cover genes similar to those contained in non-GMO seeds (native genes), and will thus allow these multinationals to also privatize traditional seeds that contain these genes and abusively pursue farmers and small seed producers for patent infringement.
If the proposal is not rejected during the plenary vote, we call on MEPs to support the amendments which clarify the implementation of the European Directive on patents (98/44/EC), as well as the amendments requiring traceability, detection methods, coexistence and labelling.
The Hemicycle of the European Parliament in Strasbourg during a plenary session in 2014 Attribution: Diliff, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
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To make our voices heard by MEPs, we will be mobilizing in front of the European Parliament on the 16 of June from 8 am to 12 am. More info here. We invite all concerned citizens, farmers, breeders, beekeepers and processors to join this mobilisation. |
General press contact point: Alisha Sesum, press@eurovia.org, +32 465 03 33 85/+44 7557537289
Other press contacts can be found here.
List of endorsing organisations (will continue to be updated here):
- A.Ba.Co. Associazione di Base dei Consumatori – IT
- AEGILOPS – GR
- Agroecology Greece – GR
- Aktionsbündnis gentechnikfreie Landwirtschaft in Baden-Württemberg – DE
- Arbeitsgemeinschaft bäuerliche Landwirtschaft (AbL) & junge AbL – DE
- Amis de la Terre des Landes – FR
- AöL – DE
- Arche Noah – AT
- ASPRO PNPP (Association pour la Promotion des Préparations Naturelles Peu Préoccupantes) – FR
- Associazione rurale italiana (ARI) – IT
- ATTAC Landes – FR
- Bioland – DE
- Beelife European Beekeeping Coordination – EU
- BUND Bundesverband – DE
- Bündnis für eine agrogentechnikfreie Region (um) Ulm – DE
- Bündnis für eine gentechnikfreie Natur und Landwirtschaft in Bayern – DE
- Bündnis für gentechnikfreie Landwirtschaft Niedersachsen, Bremen, Hamburg – DE
- Bündnis Junge ökologische Land-Lebensmittelwirtschaft (Bündnis JöLL) – DE
- Campact e.V. – DE
- Centro Internazionale Crocevia – IT
- Collectif des Faucheurs Volontaires d’OGM – FR
- Collectifs 40 – FR
- Confédération Paysanne – FR
- Coordination gegen BAYER-Gefahren – DE
- Corporate Europe Observatory (CEO) – EU
- Dachverband Kulturpflanzen- und Nutztiervielfalt e.V. / Umbrella organisation for cultivated plant and livestock breed diversity – DE
- Deutscher Naturschutzring (DNR) – DE
- Die Freien Bäcker – Zeit für Verantwortung e.V. – DE
- Dreschflegel e.V. – DE
- Ekō – DE
- European Coordination Via Campesina (ECVC) – EU
- FIAN Deutschland e. V. – DE
- Fédération Nature & Progrès – FR
- Fédération Unie de Groupements d’Eleveurs et d’Agriculteurs (FUGEA) – BE
- GIET (Groupe Intertnational d’Études Transdisciplinaires) – FR
- Grüne Liga e.V. – DE
- Gen-ethisches Netzwerk e.V. – DE
- KLB Deutschland – DE
- Kultursaat e.V. – DE
- Interessengemeinschaft für gentechnikfreie Saatgutarbeit (IG Saatgut) – DE
- Interessengemeinschaft gegen Nachbaugebühren – DE
- Junges Bioland e.V. – DE
- Kokopelli – FR
- Les Marequiers ASBL – BE
- Miljøbevægelsen NOAH / Friends of the Earth Denmark – DK
- Mouvement d’action paysanne (MAP-EPI) – BE
- Mondeggi bene comune fattoria senza padroni – IT
- NEULAND e.V. – DE
- Netzwerk Ernährungsräte (GNFPC) – DE
- Netzwerk solidarische Landwirtschaft e.V. – DE
- No patents on seeds! / Keine Patente auf Saatgut! – DE & EU
- ÖBV – Via Campesina Austria – AT
- Odin – NL
- OGM dangers – FR
- Pollinis – FR
- Rapunzel Naturkost GmbH & Co. KG – DE
- Réseau Li Mestère – BE
- Réseau Meuse-Rhin-Moselle, semences paysannes et citoyennes – BE
- Réseau Semences Paysannes – FR
- Rete Semi Rurali – IT
- Sachsen-gentechnikfrei – DE
- Sambucus e.V. – DE
- Save Our Seeds – DE
- SITO seeds – GR
- Slow Food Deutschland – DE
- Stiftung GEKKO – DE
- SYNABIO – FR
- The Southern Lights – FR
- Union Nationale de l’Apiculture Française – FR
- Verein für gentechnikfreie Lebensmittel (Lebensmittelschutz) – CH
- Verein Gen Au Rheinau – CH
- Vigilance OGM 46 – FR
- Zukunftsstiftung Landwirtschaft – DE
