Help fix the broken GE rules

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Published on Tuesday, 10 November 2015 12:30
Written by editor
r1 ... PAN PAN Tell President Obama to protect farmer livelihoods
and healthy communities

Dear Paov,

“Superweeds” and millions more pounds of health-harming herbicides — that’s what genetically engineered (GE) crops have brought with them.

Astonishingly, federal decisionmakers aren’t accounting for on-the-ground impacts like these when allowing new GE crops on the market. The current system is broken.

It's time for that to change. President Obama has directed the agencies that oversee GE crops (or GMOs) to update the rules. And, until this Friday, Nov. 13, his Administration is accepting public input on what a new system should look like.

Stronger GE policies will protect farmers, community health and the environment.

As it stands, three agencies — EPA, USDA and FDA — are charged with overseeing genetically engineered products. But the process is full of loopholes and gaps that allow GE seeds to be widely planted without independent analysis of impacts on neighboring crops or the environment, with the harms of increased pesticide use falling completely through the cracks.

The reality is that most GE crops are designed to work in concert with harmful pesticides, dramatically driving up use of chemicals that threaten the health of those working in the fields and living nearby. Farmer livelihoods are on the line as well: pesticide drift can damage non-GE crops in nearby fields, and frequent application of herbicides like RoundUp have created “superweeds” that now plague farmlands.

Speak up to fix broken GMO rules! For too long, regulators have relied on input from Monsanto and the rest of the “Big 6” corporations when it comes to GE crops, rather than assessing real, on-the-ground impacts.

We know the Big 6 will be weighing in to further weaken GE rules now, too. That’s why we need your voice in the mix! Tell President Obama we need strong, mandatory regulations that protect farmer livelihoods, healthy communities and the environment. And tell him today!

Thank you for speaking up.

r2