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Updated 11 June 2022:

Message Say No to Deregulation of Gene Editing

 

The English government is planning to remove almost all regulation and control of GMOs

A bill in Parliament this June

  • Immediately opens our fields and food system to most kinds of GMO plants and animals
  • Removes all labelling and traceability from GMOs except from a few kinds produced using old technology
  • Means that gardeners and seed savers won’t know if there are GM crops growing next to their plots

    • Why is this a bad thing?

    GMO crops have been grown in the US and other countries for many years now. The results?

  • More herbicide use - the most commonly grown GM crops are ‘herbicide tolerant’ so that they can be sprayed with Glyphosate (which is bad for the wider environment and potentially for human health)
  • Plants that produce their own insect killing toxins - which has led to insects becoming resistant, and so more (not less as promised) spraying of insecticides
  • Fewer bigger companies controlling our seed supply - and the same companies that sell the GM crops also sell the chemical herbicides and insecticides that are used alongside them

    • We’re told that new style GMO techniques are different but they have just the same problems in our farming system.

    But don’t we need GM crops to deal with food shortages / the war in Ukraine / high energy prices ?

    No! Here are some of the reasons we’re being sold GMOs

  • To increase yields – in real world conditions (as opposed to highly controlled field trials) GMOs have slightly lower yields
  • Because we can have blight resistant potatoes and reduce spraying – there are already many conventionally bred blight resistant potato varieties available
  • To reduce malnourishment by increasing the vitamin D content of rice - a ridiculously back to front way to deal with a broken food system that means people can’t access varied healthy foods

    • If you think this is a bad idea:

    Write to your MP! Tell them you want all GMOs - including those using new techniques - regulated and properly labelled when they are planted and when they enter our food system.

    Your message can be short and simple, but it is important to write in your own words. Use WriteToThem as an easy way to send the message.

    The government thinks that no-one cares about GM any more
    – tell them that that’s not true!

    If you want to read a well researched and very readable paper on GM regulation, written by an international consortium of scholars, we'd recommend this briefing from the STEPS Centre (part of Sussex University's Science Policy Research Unit). It's well worth downloading the full briefing from the link at the top of the page.