Europe rejects GM crops as new report highlights 20 years of failures

http://www.greenpeace.org/eu-unit/en/News/2015/Europe-rejects-GM-crops-as-new-report-highlights-20-years-of-failures/

 November 5, 2015

THIS PRESS RELEASE WAS UPDATED FOLLOWING CONFIRMATION OF ALL 19 GM CROP BANS ON 5 NOVEMBER

Brussels – All 19 government requests for bans of GM crop cultivation have gone unchallenged by biotech companies, pathing the way for two thirds of the EU’s farmland and population to remain GM-free [1]. The growing opposition to GM crops coincides with a new Greenpeace report reviewing evidence of GM environmental risks, market failures, and increased pesticide use [2].

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Greenpeace EU food policy director Franziska Achterberg said: “Over the past 20 years, GM technology has only been taken up by a handful of countries for a handful of crops, so no wonder two thirds of Europe have decided to ban it. Where GM crops are grown, they lead to increased pesticide use and the entrenchment of industrial farming systems that in turn exacerbate hunger, malnutrition and climate change.”