Applying for 8 GM opt-out’s

ICPPC has received confirmation today from the Ministry of the Environment that a letter stating Poland’s intention of applying for 8 GM opt-out’s has been sent to the European Commission in Brussels.

The opt-outs cover all varieties of GM maize developed for use in agriculture.

This result comes after Association for a GMO Free Poland and the International Coalition to Protect the Polish Countryside raised the alarm that the Polish government was failing to act on the GMO opt out clause.

The opt-out, whose application deadline is October 3rd 2015, enables individual EU Countries to ban GM crop plantings. According to European Commission directives, the grounds for establishing a ban must then be considered by the corporations intending to market GM seeds within European Union Countries.

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The Festival of Nature and Culture – Say NO to GMO – Save Traditional Seeds

The festival catalysed three days (Dec. 9,10,11) of hugely varied activities in support of maintaining the beauty and diversity of the Polish countryside – and an uncorrupted GMO free food chain.

Ninety events/happenings were launched during these three days, including giant puppets, dedicated jazz and pop concerts, poetry readings, workshops, lectures, food tastings and film shows. All in all
a great display of determination by Polish citizens to highlight their rejection of government and corporate attempts to force GM food down their throats and into their much loved countryside.

Reports are flowing in from the various centres of activity – and it looks as though the local press had lots of unusual photo opportunities to keep them busy! ICPPC’s co-directors tackled three engagements in one day in Krakow, giving talks on the imperative of becoming engaged in ‘local food’ community centred initiatives, as against ‘global food’ supermarket style consumerism: definitely the best way of knowing what your eating! These sessions took place in a culture house,
a restaurant and a leading jazz club… where the audience appeared amazed to find even their music guaranteed GMO Free!

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International Resistance to the the Modification and Control of Life

– Julian Rose –

Resistance comes in three shades: passive, occasionally active and active.
The corporate and political powers who aim to take a controlling influence over the food chain count on the majority of civil resistance being of a passive ‘dumbed down’ nature. They can tolerate a certain amount of ‘occasionally active’ interference in their master plan, but they do not tolerate genuinely active resistance. So those of us who hammer continuously on genetically modified corporate doors are monitored, harassed and generally marginalised by the prevailing ’status quo’ and its media poodles.

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European Parliament Proposals for Tighter GM Regulations Progress of Regress?

On 5 July 2011, the European parliament backed plans to let member states choose whether or not to ban the cultivation of GM crops on their territory. A decision which has been widely greeted as a victory for ant-GMO NGO’s. However, a more careful assessment throws doubt on the validity of this reaction, and it is our view that an opportunity was missed to to call for a complete prohibition of all GM crops.

The EU parliament proposals show improvements on the EU Commission’s original proposals which excluded both environmental and health concerns from its list of what would be deemed legally acceptable criteria for a member state to block the import of GM crops. Under the European Parliament’s latest proposal, environmental considerations are now included, however ‘health’ is still not on the agenda. There also appears to be a tightening of financial liability on the perpetrator of any cross contamination with organic or non GM crops under the EU parliament proposals.

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GMO Act: Polish parliament debate

Dear Friends,

Thanks to your superb support, which, in combination with Polish efforts, led to more than 40 parliamentarians raising critical questions about the planned new GMO Act during the parliamentary reading and debate on 16th December. This was enough to force the debate to be prolonged into February 2010. At that point it will have to go through both the agricultural and environment committees, both of which will have to ratify the act for it to become law.

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