World Consumer Rights Day - 15 March 2003: In celebration of World Consumer Rights Day 2003, consumer groups from Nigeria to Ecuador, Trinidad to Ukraine, are taking action on genetically modified foods and the methods used by agribusiness to control the food we eat.
"Consumer groups concerns around genetically modified (GM) foods no longer center only on issues of food safety and the environment. The pressing issue now facing consumers is the way in which agribusiness is using GM technology to consolidate its control over global food production," says Dr. Sothi Rachagan, Asia Pacific Regional Director, Consumers International.
Consumers International - a global federation of over 250 consumer organizations worldwide - is coordinating this global wave of actions on genetically modified foods to assert the principle that consumer rights come before profits and corporate control in determining what food we eat.
"There is now an urgent need to halt this process and to expose the tactics used by big business to extend yet further their control over food production through the patenting of GM seeds, the aggressive marketing of GM varieties globally, the contamination of non-GM crops and the steady stream of misinformation regarding the benefits of this technology," says Julian Edwards, Director General, Consumers International.
Consumer groups around the world will be bringing attention to this issue through a host of different activities from street protests to press conferences and live television broadcasts, to public forums and report launches. In Jamaica they will launch a study into the prevalence of GM foods in the local markets and will lobby for a regulatory framework to protect consumers, whilst in Vietnam actions aimed at raising awareness around the issue of GM foods will sweep the nation, with events taking place in 18 different provinces.
To assist consumer groups worldwide in their efforts to raise awareness around the issue of GM technology and how its development is undermining consumer rights, Consumers International has produced a hard-hitting report entitled, "Corporate control of the food chain – the GM link." The report provides both up-to-date information on how corporations are consolidating their control over food production through the use of GM technology, and suggestions for effective campaign strategies to deal with the most pressing issue facing consumers today: corporate control of the food chain.
For further information on activities planned for World Consumer Rights Day or to arrange an interview, please contact: Maya Vaughan. Consumers International, email: mvaughan@consint.org
A summary and full copies of the report "Corporate Control of the Food Chain: The GM Link" can be found on our website: www.consumersinternational.org
World Consumer Rights Day is an annual occasion for celebration and solidarity within the international consumer movement. But more importantly it is a time for promoting the basic rights of all consumers, for demanding that those rights are respected and protected, and for protesting the market abuses and social injustices which undermine them. World Consumer Rights Day was first observed on March 15, 1983, and has since become an important occasion for mobilizing citizen action. Consumer organizations around the world use materials produced by Consumers International to generate local initiatives and media coverage for their work.
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Successful consumer campaigns against GM foods
Global: Due to Consumers International’s (CI) efforts within the International Codex Committee on Food Labelling, the rights of member states to impose comprehensive mandatory labelling of GM foods has been upheld. CI supported the right of the Zambian government to exercise its sovereignty in its rejection of GM food aid. CI also lobbied the World Food Programme (WFP) to step up efforts to source and provide non-GM food to Zambia. Non-GM food aid was eventually supplied.
Europe: GM flax seed was taken off the market in 2001 under pressure from the Flax Council of Canada and Saskatchewan Flax Development Commission because European customers said they did not want it. Due to consumer pressure in Europe, GM tomatoes and GM tobacco – the first GM crops to be commercialised - have failed to win market acceptance and have been abandoned. GM potatoes were withdrawn from the US market.
Ukraine: As a result of pressure by the Ukrainian Consumer Association (UCA) and the Consumer Institution (CI), the Ukrainian government adopted a law ensuring the labelling of GMOs in 2002. However, there are still many GMO products currently in circulation prior to 2002 that are not labelled. To address this issue UCA and CI are pressuring the government to effectively implement the labelling law. This means developing mechanisms for ensuring these foods are identified and labelled accordingly.
Japan: Consumers in Japan have halted the development of a herbicide tolerant GM rice, promoted by Monsanto.
Thailand: In 2002, due to pressure from a coalition of groups including, the Foundation for Consumers of Thailand (FFC) and the Confederation of Consumer Organizations of Thailand, the Thai government have issued a ministerial regulation on the labelling of GM foods. Due to their efforts, the FFC has been appointed to the Drafting Committee for the regulation on labelling. However, the FFC continues to lobby to strengthen the regulation which currently only applies to products that contain at least five per cent of GM soyabean and maize and/or their derivatives.
Colombia: Testing conducted by Consumidores Colombia (COCO) forced the withdrawal of donated GM soya from national food aid programmes aimed at young people. Consumidores Colombia (COCO) secured a further victory when they succeeded in reducing the area permitted to Monsanto for planting Bt cotton in Colombia from 2000 to 200 hectares.
Ecuador halted the imports of WFP aid for poor children in 2001 after the children held protests outside the WFP offices.
Brazil: As a direct result of legal action by Brazilian consumers group, Instituto Brasileiro de Defesa do Consumidor (IDEC), Brazil became the first country in the world to prohibit the planting and commercialisation of GM foods. IDECs legal action also ensures strict risk assessments are carried out before any GMOs can be commercialised in Brazil IDEC also succeeded in ensuring that Brazil’s 1990 Consumer Defence Code included a call for labelling of all products. IDEC and other Brazilian activist groups are currently urging President Luiz Inacio da Silva (Lula) to resist US pressure to relax a ban on GM crops in return for food aid. Due to IDECs efforts to sensitise and inform the Brazilian public of the risks of GMO’s, public awareness is incredibly strong. 71% of those that are aware of GMOs prefer not to eat them; 91% believe that they should be labelled and at least 55% do not accept claims that GMOs is the answer to world hunger.