Bite Back petition delivered

This morning international campaigners from the 'Bite-Back' coalition delivered a petition to the World Trade Organization (WTO) signed by more than 100,000 people from 91 countries, asking it to not force feed the world Genetically Engineered (GE) products.

Signatories, including Archbishop Desmond Tutu, say the WTO should not undermine the sovereign right of any country to protect its citizens and the environment from Genetically Modified (GM) foods and crops.

Activists declared the WTO a 'bio hazard' as a secretive WTO panel prepares to rule on whether GE restrictions in Europe have violated WTO rules or not. Boxes with flags from 91 countries held the citizen objections and were handed to Alan Frank, the WTO Director of Public Relations at the opening of the annual 'WTO Symposium'.

The delivery of the petition ('citizen's objection') to the WTO comes as part of a global 'bite-back' campaign against a complaint filed at the WTO by the US, Argentina and Canada a year ago. These countries accuse the European Union of blocking trade in GM crops and foods and May 25 is the official deadline for WTO countries to submit evidence in the complaint.

"This is the largest ever public outcry against the WTO threatening environmental and consumer protection rules. The WTO claims to be a multilateral institution with the interests of the world at heart. But the fact is that the WTO endangers global environmental rules, including those allowing GE restrictions under the Biosafety Protocol," said Daniel Mittler our political campaigner in Geneva.

"The WTO Symposium is a public relations exercise to pretend that the WTO is listening to public concerns. But for the WTO to prove it is not a bio-hazard, it has throw out Bush's GE complaint and recognize global environmental treaties as superior to WTO rules."

Greenpeace recently joined the Bite Back Coalition of groups defending the right of countries to regulate against GE hazards as they see fit. In May 2003 the US, Canada and Argentina filed a complaint with the WTO. The countries claim that European Union GE restrictions made them lose millions of dollars of potential GE exports. In reality, of course, consumers the world over reject GE.

The campaign will continue in the coming months as an undemocratic three person experts panel prepares its ruling, which could undermine global environmental rules.

Find out More

- Send an e-card and tell your friend's about what the US is trying to do

- Read our briefing on The US War on Biosafety

- Read our briefing on the Implications of the EU's New Labelling Rules

- Read our briefing on Governments Worldwide Require Labelling and Regulation of GMOs

---