No GM crops in Europe

153,826 signatures

46 signatures until 200k

Update 11 November 2014

AMAZING NEWS: We won! Today MEPs voted to close major loopholes in proposed legislation to ban GMOs from Europe and voted against giving biotech companies like Monsanto a role in decision-making about GM crop bans. This is a major victory for our campaign!

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Europe may have just opened the floodgates for Monsanto to grow its genetically modified crops across the continent. But the European Parliament can still vote to stop this.

GM crops are deeply unpopular with European citizens, but the biotech industry's massive lobbying is finally paying off. Recently, the EU Environment Council accepted a proposal that threatens to open European fields to GM crops, say Friends of the Earth Europe.

As it stands now, the proposal would give Monsanto and other biotech giants more power over the decisions made by democratically-elected governments to ban GM crops.

The European Parliament can still change this proposal and turn it into a truly strong basis for governments to ban GMOs from their fields. With MEPs discussing the issue this fall, we need to make sure they hear from citizens across the continent to stop Monsanto and Co. from getting their way. Gilles Pargneaux and Frédérique Ries -- respectively Vice-Chair and rapporteur of the European Parliament's Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety -- have a particularly influential voice in this decision.

Tell MEPs Gilles Pargneaux and Frédérique Ries to create a stronger legal basis for countries to ban GM crops in Europe.

Wherever GM crops are grown, the dramatic increase in pesticide use like Mosanto's poisonous Roundup can have devastating effects on the environment and health. It's clear we need to be phasing out the use of chemicals on our farms, not ramping them up.

The proposal is being spun by the European Council as a 'compromise'. It does strengthen the opt-out mechanism for individual countries, giving them more legal basis to refuse GM crops that have been approved at the European level.

However, this opt-out mechanism has a big loophole, as it ‘still leaves those countries that want to say ‘no’ to GMOs exposed to legal attacks of the biotech industry”, according to Greenpeace Europe. With Bayer and Syngenta already fighting in the courts to overturn Europe's ban on bee-killing neonics, this is a real threat.

No country that chooses to ban or regulate GMOs should be terrified of corporate lawsuits for taking this stand. But SumOfUs was created to harness our power as citizens and consumers against corporations -- and it's not too late to stop this.

The European Parliament still has to vote on whether to take this proposal forward. MEPs need to strengthen the regulation by giving countries a legally solid right to ban GMOs. Let's make sure they hear us louder than Monsanto!

Tell MEPs Gilles Pargneaux and Frédérique Ries to close the Monsanto-sized loophole in the proposal and give European member states real power to ban GM crops.

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More information:

EU ministers back deal with option to ban or approve GM crops, Reuters, June 12 2014

GM crops could be planted in the UK next year, Farming UK, June 13 2014

EU go-ahead for GMO crops, Ecologist, June 12 2014

Ministers support giving biotech companies say on GMO bans, Friends of the Earth Europe, 12 June 2014

Sign the petition

TO: Members of the European Parliament

Close the Monsanto-sized loophole in the EU-proposal to ban GMOs. Make sure member states have a real legal basis to ban GMOs from their fields.

153,826 signatures

46 signatures until 200k

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