Slow Food is a global, grassroots organization with supporters in 150 countries around the world who are linking the pleasure of good food with a commitment to their community and the environment.
A non-profit member-supported association, Slow Food was founded in 1989 to counter the rise of fast food and fast life, the disappearance of local food traditions and people’s dwindling interest in the food they eat, where it comes from, how it tastes and how our food choices affect the rest of the world.
Today, it have over 100,000 members joined in 1,300 convivia – Slow Food local chapters – worldwide, as well as a network of 2,000 food communities who practice small-scale and sustainable production of quality foods.
Slow Food is against the commercial planting of genetically modified crops (GMOs) and promotes GMO-free food and feed. Slow Food President Carlo Petrini clarifies the reasons why Slow Food does not support GMOs in the document 10 Reasons to Say no to GMOs.
GMOs present a threat to the precautionary principle: “We are capable of transplanting a gene from one species to another but we are not yet able to predict or contain the results, creating yet another risk for biodiversity and the environment.” Furthermore, current scientific research is inadequate to demonstrate the safety of GMOs for human or animal health.
GMOs also pose a problem of freedom. They reduce producers’ autonomy by creating economic dependence on seed suppliers, and forcing farmers to grow the same variety. Furthermore, GMOs can cross with neighboring plants, contaminating other farmers’ crops. And consumers are often left in the dark when it comes to understanding which food contain GMOs. Slow Food supports obligatory labeling of all products containing genetically engineered ingredients, thus giving consumers the freedom to make an educated choice about what they eat.
Members of Slow Food the world over are committed to raising awareness and fighting GMOs.
Slow Food Actions:
Europe
In February 2010 a GM potato was approved for commercial growing in the EU, sparking great protest among environmentalists, consumers and farmers. Slow Food is opposed to the EU Commission’ decision to break the moratorium on GMO cultivation which follows the economic interests of multinational companies without taking into consideration the as-yet unknown dangers to public health and to the environment.The governments of Greece, Austria, Luxembourg, Italy, Hungary and France have publicly announced that they will not allow the cultivation of the GE potato in their countries.
In 2008 Slow Food International joined the European GMO-Free Regions Network. The network was established in November 2003 when 10 European Regions signed a joint declaration at the European Parliament to safeguard their agriculture policies – primarily based on the support of high quality, regional and low impact productions – which can be disrupted by the introduction of GMOs.
For more information on Slow Food and GMOs, write to: centrostudi@slowfood.it
Source:
http://www.slowfood.com
Hi i’m Jinny from Malaysia. I would like to know about the product catergories available from your company.
The longer you live the more you learn. I never knew we had a counter -GMO movement, thank God. It takes cooperation among the stronger voices among us to stop the evils of GMO producers whose sole aim is untold wealth and more wealth.. They don’t give a damn for the continuation of our human-ness.
The most terrifying act of these GMO monsters is DNA transfers between species. What will stop them, when some woman produces a half-human? Perhaps not even then.