Wales Joins 15 Other Countries And Bans GMOs!
Last week, Poland became the fourteenth country in Europe to ban GMOs. One week later, the list of countries against genetically engineered crops has grown, with an estimated 17 EU nations in favor of boycotting GM maize and Monsanto altogether.
Rebecca Evans, the Welsh Deputy Minister for Farming and Food, announced that the country of Wales will take advantage of new EU rules allowing countries to opt out of growing Eu-authorized GM crops.
She says that the nation plans to ban GM corn as well as 7 other GM crops authorized by the EU.
In a press release shared by Greenpeace, it is relayed that at least 17 EU countries and four regions (in two other countries) are in the process of banning the cultivation of GM crops on their territories. The cut-off for nations to join the opt-out was October 3 of this year.
By October 5, thirteen EU countries (Austria, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, the Netherlands, and Poland) and four regional administrations (Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland in the UK, and Wallonia in Belgium) had formally notified the Commission of their intention to ban GM crop cultivation.
At the time of the release, more were  expected to follow, as the Commission processes late requests and confirmed it had received notifications from four additional countries (Denmark, Luxembourg, Malta and Slovenia).
In total, then, 17 countries and four regions have declared their intention to ban GM crops. Combined, these nations represent over 65% of the EU’s population and 65% of its arable land. This is an incredible achievement for anti-GMO proponents everywhere, as it is blatantly obvious educated consumers want to know what’s in their food and desire to prevent the likely effects caused by consuming franken-foods long-term.
As has been shared in previous updates, the only GM crop currently approved for cultivation in Europe is Monsanto’s GM maize, otherwise known as MON810. There are seven GM crops awaiting approval by the Commission at this time, which are also GM maizes.
The EU’s governments “don’t trust EU safety assessments and are rightly taking action to protect their agriculture and food. The only way to restore trust in the EU system now is for the Commission to hit the pause button on GM crop approvals and to urgently reform safety testing and the approval system,” said Franziska Achterberg, the food policy director for Greenpeace.
EcoWatch shares that many countries already have strict laws against GMOs out of public health and environmental concern. For instance, all 28 nations in the EU require GMO labeling. Isn’t it interesting that in contrast, the United States is still in a battle over consumers’ right to know if GM crops are in the foods they purchase?
Many are rightly concerned about the safety and quality of genetically modified crops; at least 17 European nations – and four regions –  are close to omitting them from their food supply forever.
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