GMO: The Netherlands to the Rescue of the Biotech Industry ?

Availble also in Italian   PRESS RELEASE     GMO: The Netherlands to the Rescue of the Biotech Industry ?   ****     Brussels, September 11, 2017 - During an informal meeting which took place in Brussels on the 7th of September, the Netherlands has proposed amendments to the 2001 ‘GMO’ directive so that the latter should not apply to new GMOs.     These ‘new GMOs’ were developed by the seed industry to counter consumers’ massive rejection of ‘old GMOs’. The name has changed but the sanitary and environmental hazards remain the same. And these new patents will generate substantial royalties! With these new gene modification techniques and with the active support of the Netherlands, the seed industry is determined to seize the existing agrodiversity.     Peasants and European consumers have already voiced their rejection to the presence of GMOs in their fields and their plates and they have been heard! Because European and international legislation has taken their demands into account. The Court of Justice of the European Union should soon take a decision on the application of these legislations to ‘new GMOs’. Is this why the industry wants to hastily amend them?     While peasants must comply with increasingly tighter regulations, the agroindustry takes advantage of the indulgence -and perhaps even of the complacency- from authorities, which has led to an increasing number of health scandals these past years. The European Coordination Via Campesina (ECVC) urges all European Union governments to strongly reject this proposal which would sacrifice peasants, consumers, citizens and the environment to solely quench the thirst for profits of the seed and agro-industry.      Read the ECVC position on new GMOs here   ***   Contacts:     Antonio Onorati: Coordination Committee ECVC - +39 3408 2194 56 – FR, ES, IT, EN   Guy Kastler : Confédération Paysanne – ECVC - +33 6 03 94 57 21 - FR   Cristina Sancho Esteban : Coordination Committee ECVC - +34 645 310 397 - ES