WORLD CITIZENS
THE LETTER IN YOUR LANGUAGE
THE LETTER IN YOUR LANGUAGE
The Letter from America is a unique citizen to citizen action and a plea from a continent that has been devastated GM farming and food not to make the mistakes it has made. The letter, which sheds a light on what our food future in the UK and the rest of Europe will be if we don’t change course, have been signed by NGOs, groups academics, scientists, farmers, food manufactures, and high profile individuals representing some 57 million Americans.
If you live in the US or Canada and you’d like to join this powerful coalition of signatories, click here. If you live in the UK, help us spread the word. Send a link to the letter to your MP and use social media and email to invite to your friends and family to read it too.
Jump to: High profile individuals | Environmental | Consumer | Food | Farming | Health | GMO Groups | Media/bloggers | Social justice/Progressive | Academics | Businesses
Keeping family farmers on their land
“Genetic engineering (GE) poses serious threats to farmer livelihoods, biodiversity and food democracy. Farmers have a right to access and save non-GE seeds and to be able to grow their crops without fear of contamination. At the other end of the food chain, food consumers have the right to know what’s in their food, how it’s produced and to make informed purchasing decisions. The current regulatory framework overseeing GE in the U.S. violates these basic rights for farmers and eaters.”
Develops, protects and promotes the organic seed trade
“American organic farmers are apprehensive not only of being contaminated by unwanted transgenic trespass but then also being falsely accused of patent infringement by aggressive biotech patent holders.” – Jim Gerritsen, OSGATA President.
Supports independent and family farmers
“Genetic engineering enables large corporations to accelerate capital- and chemical- intensive agriculture at the expense of family farmers and rural communities around the world, increasing consolidation and concentration of agriculture. Genetic engineering in agriculture is not designed to solve critical problems such as increased weed resistance or growing staple crops on marginal land, but rather to enrich corporations. Genetically engineered seeds increase costs to farmers and have frequently failed to perform as promised. In fact, in yields have been lower than with conventional seeds, while the GE crops required increased use of herbicides manufactured by the same corporations that market the seeds.” – From Farm & Ranch Freedom, Resolution on GMOs
Umbrella organization of the organic world
“The irresponsible environmental release of GMOs continues to cause significant ecosystem damage, including reductions in biodiversity, soil fertility, and human and animal nutrition and health. IFOAM – Organics International calls for policy reform to ensure the common good, and encourages all consumers to demand and proactively support non-GMO production systems. We must stand together globally and locally to bring society on a path toward truly sustainable agriculture – one based on organic practices supported by state-of-the art technical innovations that respect the Principles of Organic Agriculture.“
Visit the IFOAM – Organics International website.
Defending the rights and freedoms of family farms
“The scientific evidence is mounting that GM foods are harmful to human and animals. People of the UK and the rest of Europe need to act now to stop the biotech lobby before they suffer the same decline in health that the American people have since the introduction of GM foods in the U.S. market over twenty years ago.”
Organic pioneers since 1947
Visit the Rodale Institute website
Working to ensure fair and sustainable food, farm and trade systems.
Visit the IATP website
Farmer education and consumer awareness on ruinous industrial agriculture.
Visit the Berry Center website.
The world’s only certifier of Biodynamic farms and products
Visit the Demeter USA website
Representing African American farmers and their families in the US
Visit the National Black Farmer’s Association website
Promoting economic justice for family-scale farming
“We have serious questions about the practicality of the USDA’s policy in America of coexistence between organic and GMO agriculture. The potential for contamination and genetic trespass is real, both in seeds and crops, and further complicated by the willingness of GMO purveyors, like Monsanto, to aggressively pursue farmers found to have the foreign, proprietary DNA in their fields. Additionally, consumers have the right to know what is in their food via the labeling of foods containing GMO ingredients.” – Will Fantle, Codirector, The Cornucopia Institute”
For the ethical development and stewardship of agricultural seed
Visit the Organic Seed Alliance website
Preserving our agricultural heritage and availability of traditional, farm fresh foods
“Farm Food Freedom Coalition wants to ensure that America’s treasures, our independent farms and ranches, are able to thrive. We aim to preserve our agricultural heritage and the future availability of traditional, farm fresh foods. Pollen from genetically engineered crops cannot be contained and threatens the purity and biodiversity of our food supply. GE crops and the ongoing threat of cross contamination are restricting independent farmers’ ability to choose the way they farm. We work beside you to preserve our freedom to choose natural, unprocessed foods for generations to come.”
Protecting our farms from genetically engineered crops
“Oregon farmers learned firsthand that genetically engineered crops present a major threat to family farmers due to contamination, and that’s why the only 2 farming counties in Oregon that have had the chance to vote on whether to ban genetically engineered crops have done so by large margins. The U.K. would be putting family farmers at major risk if they opened the door to genetically engineered crops”
Certified organic farm in Northern Maine
Visit the Wood Prairie Farm website
Grassroots farming organization
Visit the California State Grange website
Grassroots association advocating for organic food, farming and gardening
“We urge the UK and all of Europe to join us in rejecting GMO crops for the health of our people and our planet”
Organic certification agency and trade association
“CCOF is committed to ensuring the integrity of organic food. GMOs are absolutely prohibited in organic production, and CCOF has spent decades advocating for increased federal regulation of GMOs. Today, labeling GMOs is a top priority for CCOF because we want to ensure that consumers continue to have clear and accessible options for healthy, organic foods.” – Cathy Calfo, Executive Director/CEO”
Political action against GMOs in Oregon
“In the United States, GMOs were introduced and planted without our consent and in blatant disregard of the safety of our food, our farmers or our families. The bio-tech companies who have been allowed to “patent” these genetically modified life forms have one goal; to make as much money as possible through capture of the seed supply and global market dominance. How can we change this? One county at a time, one state at a time, one community at a time, farmers and consumers alike must stand together to demand proper labeling on all food containing GMOs and to restrict the growing of these unsafe crops. Protection of our heritage seed supply is up to us. If we leave it to the politicians and the multinational multi-billion dollar chemical corporations we are essentially committing suicide by genetic contamination.” – Mary Middleton, Director Oregonians for Safe Farms and Families
Visit the Oregonians for Safe Food and Families website
Preserving genetic diversity in our food
“GMOs do not belong in the marketplace without proper testing. Over a long extended period of time, we have no idea the long term effects in humans, animals and the planet” – N Astird Hoffman, Co-Founder, Living Seed Company
A resource for education and awareness about GMOs in Hawai’i
Visit the Hawai’i Seed webiste
Seeds held in trust for the future
“We believe the adoption of GMO crops in the United States has been precipitously approved and has gone into production without proper vetting or with meaningful controls. The companies selling these seeds have not been honest or transparent with the public. They have been arrogant and consider themselves above the law. With our historic experience with GMOs and the companies that sell them noted, it should be no surprise that we urge you to not incorporate them into your crops for sale until the ‘precautionary principle’ has played out over another decade at minimum. By then, we believe there should be many more reasons to avoid GMOs in your diet as well as on your farms.”
Visit the Seed Library of Los Angeles website
A free community service for home gardeners to swap seed
Visit the Taos Seed Exchange website
To educate on the benefits of organic locally grown non GMO foods.
Visit the National Heirloom Exposition website
Farmers, gardeners and consumers working to promote organic in the US Northeast
Visit the NOFA_NY website
Promotes organic agriculture for the health of individuals, communities and the planet.
Visit the NOFA MA website
Promoting regenerative, ecologically sound gardening, farming and land care
Visit the NOFA NH website
Agronomist, American Society of Agronomy
“Anyone who eats food should be concerned with this issue. We are only as healthy as our soils are health and our food is nutritious. Many of our herbicides are very detrimental to soil health and the biology it contains. This is not taught in universities or broadcast by the media. We are seeing major disease problems in our crops, our animals and in our human population. This is only good for the pharmaceutical companies and hospitals. In the last six years we have seen our major crops dying four to six weeks early due to disease. Drought and stress tolerance have gone backwards. This effect has worked its way up the food chain and manifested itself in the form of many chronic human diseases. In addition many insects and weeds have become resistant to those marketed traits, putting growers on an expensive and crashing treadmill. These problems are occurring worldwide to people in many countries. Any efforts to fight this will have to be grassroots based, where intellectually honest and compassionate people realize the ramifications of this task. Giving in is not an option.”
Family Farmer
“I feel a moral and ethical responsibility to educate people about the subject [of GMOs]. And also for the benefit of my granddaughter’s generation. I see so many people struggling to have kids or kids who have food allergies. We have to educate and motivate the masses.”
Farming advocate
“As a Mexican, I must defend Mexican corn from the international biotech industry in their intent to control our food system with patents of genetically engineered corn. Seeds have been free for thousands of years, my ancestors developed the varieties that we eat today, seeds must be freely available for our future generations if we want to survive the corporate cataclysm.”
Cedar Circle organic farm & education center
Visit the Cedar Circle Farm website
Jump to: High profile individuals | Environmental | Consumer | Food | Farming | Health | GMO Groups | Media/bloggers | Social justice/Progressive | Academics | Businesses
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