Several NGOs, including Nature et Progrès Belgium and Slow food Europe, gathered outside the European Parliament in Brussels on Tuesday to hand over a petition with 420,000 signatures against the deregulation of new genetically modified organisms (GMOs) and to raise awareness of the risks it would entail.
The petition, signed by 42 organisations from several EU member States, calls in particular for the labelling of GMO foods and strict control of the effects they may have on health and the environment. The NGOs cite in particular a 2018 decision of the Court of Justice of the European Union that considers new GMOs, produced using new techniques, as similar to the old ones and requiring, de facto, identical regulation.
About 60 people were present for the action led by the NGOs. On the square, a fake wheel of fortune with some GMO foods was set up to symbolise the lack of transparency that a deregulation of GMOs would bring on food. Several speakers addressed the group.
'The patenting of life is the second step'
“We are asking that the firms that want to multiply these modified plants do so after having evaluated them and we are asking for labelling so that everyone has free choice to eat GMOs if they feel like it and not to eat them if they decide to,” explained Marc Fichers, Secretary General of Nature et Progrès Belgium. “The patenting of life is the second step. The firms will seek royalties in wild genes and modified genes from all farmers.”
“This is a very important struggle. Patents are our main concern,” said Ivan Mammana, a member of La Coordination Européenne Via Campesina (ECVC), a confederation of trade unions and farmers’ organisations.
Two members of the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Health, Klaus Berend and Irene Sacristán Sánchez, responded to the NGOs’ invitation. After explaining, among other things, that the European Commission was trying to combine 25% organic farming with the implementation of GMOs, Klaus Berend added his signature to a paper certifying the 420,000 signatures of the petition.
Three MEPs, Anja Hazekamp (The Left), Eric Andrieu (S&D) and Martin Häusling (Greens/EFA) each took the floor to welcome the initiative of the NGOs and to express their opinions, also in favour of regulation of new GMOs.
