European consumers unite against GE

Across Europe our volunteers and campaigners are keeping up the pressure on the GE food industry, letting them know that consumers don't want GE anywhere near their dinner tables. Today volunteers, representing citizens from the 25 nations of the European Union, made their feelings known by hanging banners in front of important monuments in Portugal, Poland, Germany, Austria, Italy, France, Spain, Denmark, Sweden, Hungary, Luxembourg, Slovakia and the Czech Republic. View a slideshow of today's images.

Our volunteers posed with banners in various languages – all with the same message – NO GE FOOD. Today’s demonstrations all took part in places of social importance: In front of Prague Castle in the Czech Republic; the Colosseum Rome, Italy; Stockholm, Sweden; Hungarian Parliament, Hungary; Eiffel Tower Paris, France; the Puerta de Alacalá, Madrid, Spain; the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin, the Riesenrad in Vienna, Austria and the Belém Tower, in Lisbon, Portugal.

"Consumers throughout Europe have a right to food, which is free from GMOs. Greenpeace volunteers throughout the 25 nations of the EU are currently acting as 'Gene Detectives', visiting retailers to find out which GE products are on the shelves and to warn other consumers about these products by publishing the information on the Greenpeace website," said Claudia Carrescia, our International GE campaigner.

Throughout this spring our detectives have visited most supermarket chains in Europe double checking that food producers are adhering to the GE labelling laws. All of these GE products can be viewed at our Trolley Watch.

Greenpeace has also released shoppers' guides in over 20 countries, including Germany, the UK, France, Italy, Spain, Austria, China, Thailand, Brazil, Chile, Australia and New Zealand to help consumers avoid GE food.

Before the expansion of the EU this year, consumer surveys done by the EU and various Greenpeace offices since 1999 in the EU 15 member states have shown massive and clear rejection of GE food. Regular results show that 70-80 percent of the European public demand labelling of GE food and that 60-70 percent support not buying GE food.

Labelling Required

It is this consumer rejection that has led to the world's strictest labelling legislation and has forced the vast majority of EU food producers and retailers to stop using GE labelled ingredients in their own brand food products within the EU.

However there is still a major failing in the law, food products made from animals fed on GE do not have to be labelled. Currently, between 20-30 percent of animal feed is GE. As such our offices in the UK and Germany have been targeting dairy companies in a bid to get them to change their policies. This loophole needs to be closed immediately and allow real consumer choice to be extended also to meat and dairy produce.

"Dumping millions of tons of GE crops unseen into animal feed is a dangerous experiment. The meat and diary industry should take immediate action to source guaranteed GE free animal feed, which is in plentiful supply," added Martina Holbach, our International GE campaigner.

Roughly 20 million tons of GE soya and GE maize were imported into the EU last year, mainly for use as feed for the meat and dairy industry. The new GE labelling legislation requires that animal feed needs to be labelled when it contains GMOs.

Furthermore, the EU Commission is currently planning to allow 0.3 - 0.7 percent GE contamination in conventional seeds. The Directive would allow for 0.3-0.5 percent of GMOs to be present in all conventional and organic seeds, without farmers even knowing about it. Legalising GE contamination of the seed stock at the very beginning of the food chain would not only substantially drive up the costs of GE-free food and agriculture. There would be little to no chance for the 'co-existence' between GE and non-GE farming.

Find out what our Detectives have been up to

- Read our feature: Supermarket Success!

- Read our story: Greenpeace saves Denmark's bacon

- Read our story: Müller madness

- Read our story: Sainsbury's trials GE-free milk

- Read our story: Russia Introduces GE labelling

Get more in-depth information

- For more information about the implications of the new EU labelling and traceability rules read this.

- Find out why The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA): Failing Consumers and the Environment

- Check out what is happening in your country

- Want to get involved in our Trolley Watch? Click here to see how you can help.

More images from today's action:

For our last demonstration of the day our campaigners in Luxembourg managed to mobilised more than 100 people from the public spontaneously to participate in the ‘Living Banner of Luxembourg’ that said a big ‘Non aux OGM’ (No to GMO). This human banner shows that even the ‘man on the street’ is prepared to show opposition to GE food.

Here volunteers from Slovakia took time out from training in Carinthia to show how they feel about GE.

Our polish volunteers braved high winds to hang this banner on the Oder bridge on the German-Polish border.

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