Coalition of farmers, breeders, processors and consumers will mobilize in Strasbourg against the unacceptable deregulation of GMOs-NGTs, ahead of European Parliament’s vote
The European Parliament will vote on the 17 of June on the proposal for a new regulation on plants genetically modified by new genomic techniques (GMOs-NGTs). This proposal 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’ 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 and small and medium seed companies 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.
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. We invite all concerned farmers, breeders, processors and citizens to join this mobilisation!
