Keep GMO food regulated and labelled!
The European Commission and EU governments
Petition
We urge the European Commission and EU national governments to take a strong stand against any attempts to exclude new GMOs from the existing EU GMO legislation and to uphold mandatory safety checks, transparency and labelling for all GMOs to guarantee the safety of our food, as well as to protect nature, the environment and our freedom of choice.
Why is this important?
In Europe, we have strict regulations on genetically modified organisms (GMOs) – for our safety and transparency. Genetically modified foods are foods that have their DNA changed via genetic engineering - a way that does not occur naturally.
But now, big chemical companies have convinced the EU Commission to stop checking and labelling some GMOs as such. [1, 2] They're trying to increase their profits by getting the “GMO” label off their products. [3] More of us would end up buying their products, without knowing that we’re eating GM food.
As a result, farmers would start using more patented seeds that rely on toxic pesticides. Many new GM plants are resistant to pesticides, such as those that are “Roundup ready”. This could put the fate of our entire food system directly into the hands of Bayer-Monsanto and other big corporations. Deregulating these GMOs would be a huge step backward for farming communities, people and the environment.
We need our national governments to stand up for safe, healthy and transparent food. Only a few do at the moment. That’s why it’s so important for us to send a strong message now to all our governments and the EU Commission that we want them to prioritise safety and transparency over corporate profits.
References:
- The GMOs in question are produced with “New Genomic Techniques” (NGTs). These are used to create new GMO food. NGTs are defined as techniques that are capable of altering the genetic material of an organism and that have emerged or have been mainly developed since 2001.
https://friendsoftheearth.eu/press-release/eu-commission-serves-big-agribusiness-interests-with-latest-consultation-on-new-gmos/
https://viacampesina.org/en/more-than-80-organisations-call-on-the-european-commission-to-wait-for-cjeu-clarifications-on-new-genomic-techniques/
https://www.euractiv.com/section/agriculture-food/news/commission-reopens-gene-editings-box-amid-sustainability-claims/
https://www.euractiv.com/section/agriculture-food/news/meps-demand-eu-funding-for-research-into-gene-editing-surveillance/ - The main corporations that are dominant both in the pesticide and in the commercial seed market are also lobbying for deregulation of new GMOs: Bayer, BASF, Corteva and Syngenta. https://corporateeurope.org/en/2021/03/derailing-eu-rules-new-gmos
- The patents on these types of GM seeds are currently dominated by the ‘Corteva group’ which, apart from its own patents, controls access to many other patents needed by breeders who want to use CRISPR/Cas technology. The other main companies are Calyxt, Bayer, BASF, Syngenta and Keygene. https://www.testbiotech.org/sites/default/files/Patents_on%20new%20GE.pdf