March Against Monsanto: Sat 25 May

There will be a March Against Monsanto in Perth (and all over the world) on Saturday 25 May 2013.

Details for the Perth march are:

2pm, Sat 25 May
Gather: WA Parliament House (Harvest Terrace, West Perth)
March to: Russell Square (for speakers and stalls, etc)


[Information below supplied by March Against Monsanto.]

The Fight For Our Food - Organised by FOOD Watch and We Say No To GMOs

Reasons why we march:

Insufficient Labelling - The current Australian GM labelling laws are woefully inadequate and take away our freedom of choice. There are many loopholes which allow GM food to be unlabelled on our shelves.
We have the right to know what we are eating.

Health Risks – There is still uncertainty regarding the safety of GM foods and consumers are cautious about eating them. The Australian regulatory framework (OGTR and FSANZ) does not do independent health testing instead they rely on the GM industry to provide information regarding the effects on health. This is a major conflict of interests.

Environmental Risks – There has been inadequate testing of the effect that GM crops can have on the other species due to crossing of genes between kingdoms. Basically, GM crops can contaminate the ecology. If that happens the product is cannot be recalled.

Farmers Misled – The benefits fail to live up to what's promised for example GM canola has been performing below average.

Coexistence Impossible – Non-GM farmers are expected to prevent GM contaminatation, otherwise they run the risk of being sued for growing a patented crop and/or breaking contractual agreements if crops are contaminatated.

Marketing – Many export and domestic markets don't want to buy GM or GM contaminatated crops. Farmers have a right and responsibility to provide non-GM crops. Furthermore, costs to supply the non-GM market are higher than GM partly due to management and testing against contaminatation.

Legislation – No adequate Federal legislation exist to address concerns presented by farmers. The GM industry dominates plans for preparedness and coexistence. This is a clear conflicts of interest.

Patents – GM crops patented by agribusiness are unique. They undermine the independence and rights of farmers leading to a dependency on a small number of agribusiness corporations. Contaminatation of non-GM crops can result in farmers being forced to pay patent royalties.

Herbicide Resistance – Many GM crops are developed to be herbicide resistant. Weeds have developed resistance to the herbicide which has lead to an increased use of herbicide that GM proponents want to solve by using more toxic herbicides. The increase use of herbicides reduce surrounding biodiversity leading to increase in use of insecticides.

Above points taken from: www.non-gm-farmers.com/index.asp And summarised to fit space limitations.