Slow Food is against the commercial planting of genetically modified (GM) crops and works to promote GM-free food and animal feed.
The UK is currently at consultation to allow Gene Edited (GMO) Foods. We have co-ordinated with Beyond GM, a letter of more than 50 NGOs, Civil Society Leaders, Academics and Farmers to be sent to supermarkets asking them to not stock these products.
You can support this campaign using the #NotInMySupermarket – details here
With genetically modified organisms (GMOs) we risk transforming our food into a patented commodity controlled by a few multinationals and stripping farmers and consumers of their rights.
GMOs are unreliable from a scientific point of view, inefficient in economic terms and environmentally unsustainable. Little is known about them from a health perspective and from a technical standpoint they are obsolete. They have severe social impact, threatening traditional food cultures and the livelihoods of small-scale farmers.
Why are we against GMOs?
Biodiversity
GM crops are linked to intensive monoculture systems that destroy other crops and ecosystems.
Toxic Crops, Toxic Land
When herbicides are used on resistant crops, over time the weeds develop resistance, leading to the use of even more chemicals.
Crops engineered to produce their own insecticides produce toxins that are not only harmful to pests but other insects such as butterflies, moths and insect pollinators.
Corporate Control
GM crops are patented, which allows a few multinational companies to control the entire GM food chain – from research to breeding to commercialisation of seeds.
Threat to Small-Scale Farmers
GM crops denature the role of farmers, who have always improved and selected their own seeds. GM seeds are owned by multinationals to whom the farmer must turn every new season, because, like all commercial hybrids, second-generation GMOs do not give good results.
It is also forbidden for farmers to try to improve the variety without paying expensive royalties.
Furthermore, farmers risk being sued by big corporations if their crops are accidentally contaminated with patented GM crops. Pollen from crops like oilseed rape is easily spread via wind and insects to neighbouring fields.
Food Culture
GM products do not have historical or cultural links to a local area.
Health and Safety
Little is understood yet about the health effects of GMOs, but recent studies have shown animals fed with GM-containing feed can develop health problems.
Multinationals promise that GMOs will feed the world, but since they began to be marketed two decades ago, the number of starving people in the world has only grown, just like the profits of the companies that produce the seeds.
The majority of GMO crops are not destined to human food, but rather for animal feed, textiles and biofuels.
Continued industry promises about the ability of GM crops to tackle the world’s growing social problems are a myth: They have reduced biodiversity, polluted landscapes, threatened the future of small-scale farming and reduced the food security of the world’s poorest people. They have not fed the world, but rather concentrated profits and power into the hands of a few ruthless companies. It’s time to stop the big scam.
