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3 october
MASS TROLLEY PARADE AGAINST GENETIC
POLLUTION
EU URGED TO STAND UP FOR EUROPEAN
CONSUMERS
PHOTO OPPORTUNITY
On Wednesday 9th October hundreds of
people from across Europe will march through
the streets of Brussels, pushing supermarket
trolleys filled with food free from
genetically modified (GM) ingredients. The
trolley procession, organised by Friends of
the Earth, will call on European ministers to
take urgent action to protect European food
from GM contamination. The EU is due to make
several important decisions on GM food and
crops over the coming weeks.
The trolley parade will pass through the
streets of Brussels, stopping off at the
European Parliament (Place du Luxembourg),
before finally gathering in front of the
European Council (Rond Point Schumann) at
14.00, where EU delegations - who are meeting
to discuss GM labelling proposals - will be
handed GM-free food specialities from across
Europe.
Crucial decisions to be made within the
next few weeks Later this month, EU Member
States will make several important decisions
concerning GM food.
[1].· On the 16th October the Agricultural
Council of EU ministers will vote on a
proposal to label all food and animal feed
derived from GMOs.
· On 17th October EU Environment ministers
will vote on a similar proposal.
· In the first week of November, EU Member
States will hold an indicative vote on a
proposal to allow seeds to contain up to 0.7
% of genetic contamination before they need
to be labelled.
Friends of the Earth welcomes proposals by
the European Commission and European
Parliament to label all GM food and animal
feed. This would strengthen existing
labelling regulations and give consumers a
choice about eating GM-derived food. But an
attempt by the Danish Presidency to weaken
the proposals raises serious concerns.
The Danish Presidency has introduced
'transitional measures' into the draft
labelling proposals. These would allow food
contaminated by GMOs that haven't been
authorised in Europe - up to a 1% threshold -
to be sold in Europe for three years, without
being labelled. For example this could mean
that for a period of three years, one in
every hundred tomatoes sold could be a GM
variety unapproved in Europe, and - because
it wouldn't need to be labelled - would be
almost impossible for consumers to avoid.
The proposal to allow genetic pollution in
seed lots is even more worrying. Since seeds
are at the beginning of the food chain, this
proposal threatens the supply of GM-free
food.
Europeans want to eat GM-free food
According to the latest opinion polls, 71% of
European citizens are opposed to GM food
[2]. The Brussels trolley parade will remind
European politicians about the public’s
overwhelming rejection of this new
technology, and will urge ministers to vote
in favour of labelling of all food and animal
feed derived from GMOs and against proposals
to allow ‘accidental’ genetic pollution in
food, animal feed and seeds.
EU moratorium
European ministers are under increasing
pressure from the biotech industry and the US
to allow more GMOs into Europe. During the
Council meetings in October they might even
decide to drop the current EU-wide moratorium
on approving any new GMOs. It is far too
early to even consider such a step. The
moratorium should be upheld until full safety
regulations against the risks of GMOs are in
place, and laws requiring the labelling of
all GM food should be fully operational.
More about the trolley parade
The trolley parade will start from
Spanjeplein/Place d’Espagne (facing Brussels
Central Station) at 12 noon. It will stop at
the Parliament building (Place du Luxembourg)
at 13.00, from where it will go to the
European Council building (Rond-Point
Schumann), arriving approximately 14.00. Here
there will be speeches from key speakers,
including: Alexander de Roo, Member of the
European Parliament and Alan Simpson, a
Member of the UK Parliament. A petition and
GM-free food will be offered to the permanent
representatives of the EU Member States who
are meeting on the 9th October to discuss the
proposals for traceability and GM labelling.
For more details: see the special trolley
action website:
http://www.foeeurope.org/GMOs/trolley_action/home.htm
This website is regularly updated.
Delegations
During the parade, delegations from the
following countries will be present:
Austria: Global 2000
Belgium: Velt, Les Amis de la Terre
Denmark: NOAH
Croatia: Zelena Akcija
England, Wales and NI: Friends of the
Earth
France: Les Amis de la Terre
Germany: BUND
Ireland: Earthwatch
Italy: Amici Della Tierra
Luxembourg: Mouvement Ecologique
The Netherlands: Milieudefensie
Scotland: Friends of the Earth Scotland
Spain: Amigos de la Tierra
Sweden: Miljöförbundet Jordens Vänner
Representatives of the above organisations
are available for interview before, during
and after the trolley action. For more
details, please contact the FOE Europe
office:
Geert Ritsema, FOE Europe GMO Campaign
Coordinator
+32 2 542 0182 mobile +31 6 290 05 908
Niccolo Sarno, FOE press officer + 31 6
51005630 (October 9 only)
[1] On 16th October the Agricultural and
Fisheries Council will vote upon the draft EU
legislation on GM food/feed (COM (2001) 425
final), which deals with authorization of
genetically modified food and animal feed,
and also with traceability and labelling of
GM food and GM animal feed.
• On 17th October the Environmental Council
will vote about a proposal by the European
Commission to install traceability for GM
food and animal feed and to label all GM
animal feed and all food derived from GMOs
(COM (2001) 182 final).
• Beginning of November the Standing
Committee on “Seeds and Propagating Material
for Agriculture, Horticulture and Forestry”
will hold an indicative vote on a draft
Directive (working document SANCO/1542/02-Juy
2002) concerning the genetic contamination of
seeds.
[2]
http://www.europa.eu.int/comm/public_opinion/archives/eb/ebs_134_en.pdf
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