Take action! New GMOs need to stay checked for safety and labelled

The European Parliament (and the EU member states' governments) is debating a new law for new GMOs that would come down to a complete deregulation: no more safety checks, mandatory traceability, nor labelling on the end product. This would mean that GM food could come on our fields and plates untested and unlabelled.

Ask your MEPs to support strict regulations for all new GMOs to preserve our freedom of choice, health, and environment!

Why is this important?

In July the European Commission published a proposal to exclude new GMOs, which they call new genomic techniques (NGTs), from the approval processes of the existing EU GMO legislation. The proposal is now being discussed by the European Parliament and the Council of the European Union.

Under the current rules, old and new GMOs are subjected to EU authorisation, which ensures risk assessment for human health and the environment, transparency for producers and farmers, and clear labelling for consumers. Excluding new GMOs would prevent farmers, food producers, retailers, and citizens from opting for GM-free choices.

Big chemical and seed corporations have lobbied the European Commission for years to exclude new GMOs from the European GMO regulation, making unsubstantiated claims on the supposed benefits for sustainability, such as pesticide reduction and climate. But as they also hold patents on the seeds engineered with these techniques, their true motivation remains to increase their profits. Such an industry takeover of seeds would seriously threaten farmers’ seed autonomy and agricultural biodiversity as a whole.

Please take action now, and share! Thank you.

If you want to know more about this EU legislative process, please have a look at this Demeter International briefing paper.