Skip to content or view mobile version

Home | Mobile | Editorial | Mission | Privacy | About | Contact | Help | Security | Support

A network of individuals, independent and alternative media activists and organisations, offering grassroots, non-corporate, non-commercial coverage of important social and political issues.

EU MUST PROTECT CITIZENS AND ENVIRONMENT FROM GM RISK

David Lundy | 11.01.2006 15:39 | Bio-technology | Ecology | Health | London | World

GUE/NGL is opposed to the cultivation of GMOs and strongly believes that coexistence of GM plants and conventional plants is not possible as they pose a potential threat to human, animal and plant health.

EU MUST PROTECT CITIZENS AND ENVIRONMENT FROM GM RISK

Brussels, 11/1/06
Speaking at the GUE/NGL conference on genetically modified organisms (GMOs) today in the European Parliament, Greek MEP Diamanto Manolakou asserted that the fact that a small number of powerful biotech multinationals maintain control over the production of GMOs and effectively seek to "guinea pig test their products on humans" was posing significant risks for public health and the environment. With transnational food corporations trying to obtain full control of the food chain, GMOs and monopolisation of seeds represent a means to impose their conditions in agricultural production.

The conference, entitled "GMOs and Transnational Food Corporations - A Threat to Food Sovereignty, Public Health and Biodiversity" gathered professors, researchers, experts and farmers from across Europe to discuss ways to deal with the stranglehold transnational food businesses have on agricultural production, the risks posed by GM technology and how to protect biodiversity and food sovereignty.

In his contribution, Swedish MEP Jonas Sjöstedt emphasised that while GM technology has enormous potential, there is still not enough scientific understanding of their impact on the environment and human health. He also said that the multinationals involved in GM food production do not hold the interests of citizens at heart.

"Industry wants to deny the public their right to know about GM ingredients. We advocate a moratorium on GM products and will defend the rights of countries, regions and consumers to say 'NO' to them!" Sjöstedt said.

GUE/NGL is opposed to the cultivation of GMOs and strongly believes that coexistence of GM plants and conventional plants is not possible as they pose a potential threat to human, animal and plant health. The argument that their use will increase food production and solve the food shortage problems in parts of the developing world is often voiced by genetic engineering companies. The fact is that there is an unfair distribution of food and food production in the world and what we need is an assessment of the fundamental cause of this unequal distribution of food and a move to ensure that communities and farmers can reclaim control over their own food production.

for information:
David Lundy + 32 485 505812

GUE/NGL press office :Gianfranco Battistini + 32 475 646628 www.guengl.eu



David Lundy
- e-mail: dlundy@europarl.eu.int
- Homepage: http://www.guengl.org

Comments

Display the following comment

  1. Why do you think they even care? — ..
Upcoming Coverage
View and post events
Upcoming Events UK
24th October, London: 2015 London Anarchist Bookfair
2nd - 8th November: Wrexham, Wales, UK & Everywhere: Week of Action Against the North Wales Prison & the Prison Industrial Complex. Cymraeg: Wythnos o Weithredu yn Erbyn Carchar Gogledd Cymru

Ongoing UK
Every Tuesday 6pm-8pm, Yorkshire: Demo/vigil at NSA/NRO Menwith Hill US Spy Base More info: CAAB.

Every Tuesday, UK & worldwide: Counter Terror Tuesdays. Call the US Embassy nearest to you to protest Obama's Terror Tuesdays. More info here

Every day, London: Vigil for Julian Assange outside Ecuadorian Embassy

Parliament Sq Protest: see topic page
Ongoing Global
Rossport, Ireland: see topic page
Israel-Palestine: Israel Indymedia | Palestine Indymedia
Oaxaca: Chiapas Indymedia
Regions
All Regions
Birmingham
Cambridge
Liverpool
London
Oxford
Sheffield
South Coast
Wales
World
Other Local IMCs
Bristol/South West
Nottingham
Scotland
Social Media
You can follow @ukindymedia on indy.im and Twitter. We are working on a Twitter policy. We do not use Facebook, and advise you not to either.
Support Us
We need help paying the bills for hosting this site, please consider supporting us financially.
Other Media Projects
Schnews
Dissident Island Radio
Corporate Watch
Media Lens
VisionOnTV
Earth First! Action Update
Earth First! Action Reports
Topics
All Topics
Afghanistan
Analysis
Animal Liberation
Anti-Nuclear
Anti-militarism
Anti-racism
Bio-technology
Climate Chaos
Culture
Ecology
Education
Energy Crisis
Fracking
Free Spaces
Gender
Globalisation
Health
History
Indymedia
Iraq
Migration
Ocean Defence
Other Press
Palestine
Policing
Public sector cuts
Repression
Social Struggles
Technology
Terror War
Workers' Movements
Zapatista
Major Reports
NATO 2014
G8 2013
Workfare
2011 Census Resistance
Occupy Everywhere
August Riots
Dale Farm
J30 Strike
Flotilla to Gaza
Mayday 2010
Tar Sands
G20 London Summit
University Occupations for Gaza
Guantanamo
Indymedia Server Seizure
COP15 Climate Summit 2009
Carmel Agrexco
G8 Japan 2008
SHAC
Stop Sequani
Stop RWB
Climate Camp 2008
Oaxaca Uprising
Rossport Solidarity
Smash EDO
SOCPA
Past Major Reports
Encrypted Page
You are viewing this page using an encrypted connection. If you bookmark this page or send its address in an email you might want to use the un-encrypted address of this page.
If you recieved a warning about an untrusted root certificate please install the CAcert root certificate, for more information see the security page.

Global IMC Network


www.indymedia.org

Projects
print
radio
satellite tv
video

Africa

Europe
antwerpen
armenia
athens
austria
barcelona
belarus
belgium
belgrade
brussels
bulgaria
calabria
croatia
cyprus
emilia-romagna
estrecho / madiaq
galiza
germany
grenoble
hungary
ireland
istanbul
italy
la plana
liege
liguria
lille
linksunten
lombardia
madrid
malta
marseille
nantes
napoli
netherlands
northern england
nottingham imc
paris/île-de-france
patras
piemonte
poland
portugal
roma
romania
russia
sardegna
scotland
sverige
switzerland
torun
toscana
ukraine
united kingdom
valencia

Latin America
argentina
bolivia
chiapas
chile
chile sur
cmi brasil
cmi sucre
colombia
ecuador
mexico
peru
puerto rico
qollasuyu
rosario
santiago
tijuana
uruguay
valparaiso
venezuela

Oceania
aotearoa
brisbane
burma
darwin
jakarta
manila
melbourne
perth
qc
sydney

South Asia
india


United States
arizona
arkansas
asheville
atlanta
Austin
binghamton
boston
buffalo
chicago
cleveland
colorado
columbus
dc
hawaii
houston
hudson mohawk
kansas city
la
madison
maine
miami
michigan
milwaukee
minneapolis/st. paul
new hampshire
new jersey
new mexico
new orleans
north carolina
north texas
nyc
oklahoma
philadelphia
pittsburgh
portland
richmond
rochester
rogue valley
saint louis
san diego
san francisco
san francisco bay area
santa barbara
santa cruz, ca
sarasota
seattle
tampa bay
united states
urbana-champaign
vermont
western mass
worcester

West Asia
Armenia
Beirut
Israel
Palestine

Topics
biotech

Process
fbi/legal updates
mailing lists
process & imc docs
tech