Poland’s GM Crop Ban – Nothing More Than Classic Political Deception
Alex Pietrowski, Staff Writer
Waking Times
Earlier this week we reported a victory for anti-GMO activists when it was announced that Poland banned GM crops under new legislation.
“The North-Eastern European country, Poland, has become the latest EU nation to ban the production of genetically modified (GM) crops, although, the European Food Safety Authority has approved GM crops as being safe for cultivation. Poland’s Ministry of Agriculture has opted to take advantage of a special ‘safeguard clause’ which allowed them to reject these GM crops, allowing Poland to protect their agricultural base from contamination.” (Waking Times)
Unfortunately, however, in what appears to be a classic political deception, this recent news is, sadly, just not true. The recent news seemed like cause for celebration, but, it actually legalizes the trading of GM plants and seeds. (Sir) Julian Rose, President of the International Coalition to Protect the Polish Countryside (ICPPC), a grassroots organization to liberate the Polish agriculture from GMO farming has alerted us that:
“The New Year dawned with Prime Minister Tusk announcing to the World that Poland is to ban the planting of GM seeds as of 28 January 2013. But he is not banning ‘trading’ of GM plants and seeds.
If trading is allowed what sort of control will be in place to stop planting? Answer: none.
Farmers will soon become aware that they will become responsible for any infringements should their land become contaminated by GM plantings. So all responsibilities and costs will land-up with farmers should their crops become cross contaminated.”
And the reality for Polish farmers and citizens may actually be much more grim than even this, as it appears that the Polish government is colluding with multi-national corporations, like Monsanto, to ‘secure’ farmland for “‘designated GMO areas’ to conform with European Union ‘free trade’ regulations,” states Rose.
“The reality is very different. They are covertly supporting the multinational agribusiness interest in acquiring Polish land for the large scale production of genetically modified food…”
“Our reaction is to unite the GM opposition groups so as to form a united front able and willing to take-on the government and the corporations and to force a total ban of GM trading and planting…
…we are living in a world in which governments do not act in good faith. They dance to the tune of corporate demands. In Poland’s case, only due to sustained pressure and significant regional support for the maintenance of GMO Free status, has government been forced to act. The way in which it has acted is true to form: give ‘the people’ their sop but also the corporations their slice of the cake.”
This action contradicts the demands of a majority of the public and Polish farming community, states Rose:
“Seventy five percent of Poles have said they want Real Food and not ‘genetically modified food’.
All across the World people have rejected GM food – there is no market for it if nobody wants to eat it. The GM corporations cannot accept this rejection. Instead they are consistently lying to farmers and telling them that GM crops out perform conventional crops. Tens of thousands of farmers in the USA have found exactly the opposite and are now going to the courts to file law suits against Monsanto corporation and others. The crops have failed them and now ‘super weeds’ are taking over their farmland.”
Up until now, GMO crops have been forbidden in Poland, as Poland has been under the Seeds Act of 2003, meaning that this recent law is really a step towards conforming Poland’s standars with those of the EU where GM crops have been approved:
The Seed Act of 2003, which is currently in force in Poland, forbids the trading and registration of GMO seeds. This regulation runs counter to the EU rules on GMO and, following the European Court of Justice’s decision in case C-165/08, Poland is obliged to align its legislation with that of the EU. (CliffordChance.com)
Once again, the public has been duped by tricky political rhetoric into believing that the public’s demands are being heeded, when in actuality, this is just another deceptive act which opens the door for the introduction and take over of genetically modified seed, supplied by the world’s most damnable chemical corporations. And if organizations such as Greenpeace, who are supposedly champion environmental issues, is lauding this as a victory, then grassroots action is certainly the last hope for the future of agriculture.
Please spread the word and support the effort for justice in this matter by visiting the ICPPC.
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