De Raad van de Gemeente Nijmegen
Postbus 9105
6500 HG Nijmegen
Dear Madam or Sir,
we are writing to you in support of “Burgers voor gentechvrij voedsel” and their initiative to declare Nijmengen the first GMO free City of the Netherlands. “Save Our Seeds”, based in Germany, is dedicated to keeping conventional and organically grown seeds free of genetically modified organisms. We also organise the annual European Conference of GMO free regions, a meeting of initiatives and organisations, scientists, enterprises and representatives of municipalities, regional and national governments who have declared themselves GMO free.
We are excited to hear that the citizens of Nijmegen want to declare their city GMO free and encourage you to seriously consider their demand. According to our last count more than 4000 cities throughout Europe have now declared themselves GMO free, in addition to 292 regions, 4713 municipalities and ten thousands of farmers.
In Germany, over the last months North-Rine Westfalia, Baden-Württemberg and Rhineland-Palatia in addition to Thuringia vowed to join the Network of European GMO free Regional Governments and we expect further States to follow. Nijmegen would be joining a growing community of European regional decision makers making “GMO free” a quality label for their products and expressing their citizens dedication to the sustainability and sovereignty of their regional agriculture.
In recent years, the agricultural sector has seen severe changes throughout the world. A small number of transnational seed and agribusiness companies are vigorously spreading their patented GMO crops worldwide - drastically changing the face of traditional farming and the diversity of landscapes and eliminating small farms. In addition, the consequences of GMOs can be severe and range from environmental and health impacts to serious implications on social structures and ecosystems. The science around GMOs is still weak and precaution should lead the way forward with respect to the new risks of this technology.
We regard this kind of industrialisation as a serious threat to food security and food sovereignty and take some pride in contributing to the fact that GMO farming has not taken root within Europe and GMO products, whenever they have to be labelled, can hardly be found in any supermarkets.
GMO free regions and GMO free towns enable people and their institutions, food retailers and processors, farmers, beekeepers and entire cities and regions to set a clear sign against a technological pathway the majority of people do not want in their food and environment. In our experience such a commitment is usually accompanied by additional levels of co-operation of the various stakeholders, based upon a common cause, with a diversity of positive effects, not least to the local economy (e.g. regional products, touristic benefits, local trade).
Nijmegen now has the chance to become the first GMO free town in the Netherlands and to set a standard for its nation and being a positive example for the rest of the country.
The Netherlands have a long and proud tradition of being at the forefront of new agricultural technologies within Europe. Today the country is seen as one of the most “pro GMO” nations of the EU. However, we believe that true innovation and progress with respect to food production and the multifunctional services of agriculture today can no longer be reduced to the development of new technologies for further intensification and maximum output. Sustainability, starting at the local and regional level, demands smart and integrated approaches, participation of all stakeholders and citizens and mutual trust.
The feedback of the majority of people on the “Nijmegen GMO free food citizen’s initiative” website may indicate the desire for such new innovation in addition to the clear will to live in a GMO Free city. We therefore would like to encourage you to join the European GMO free movement and to become the leaders to this end within the Netherlands.
We hope to hear from you soon and remain at your disposal for any further questions. You will find a lot of additional information as well on our website www.gmo-free-regions.org.
Yours sincerely,
Benedikt Haerlin
Save Our Seeds & GMO-Free-Regions
c/o Zukunftsstiftung Landwirtschaft (Foundation on Future Farming)
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