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Report - GMO: What's it all about?

The Civil Affairs Institute is a social organization which has been following the debate on using GMOs in food production for a long time. Alarmed by the increasing amount of information revealing problems caused by the uncontrolled presence of GMOs that we have been receiving, we decided to present those problems in a way which would emphasize matters crucial from the consumers' point of view.

Natural Genes

A drive to sensitize the consumers to the need of labeling foodstuffs is the part of the "Natural Genes" campaign realized by the Civil Affairs Institute. The aim of the campaign is to provide information on the real and potential threats connected with using genetically modified organisms in the production of food. Since we assume that the citizens have the right to the free choice of foodstuffs, we demand that the legal articles be introduced and supplemented in a way that would allow unambiguous labeling of both genetically modified and non-modified food. We encourage you to support our campaign through signing the petition available on our website.

Is GMO safe?

The current situation is worrying. With each new month there is new information regarding the fact that genetically modified food is not harmless to human health. Genetically modified plants are the source of allergies and poisonings and can cause complications as yet unknown and lead to new diseases.

The technology that is usually presented as one of the biggest achievements of mankind is very unstable. Thus, it would be common sense to do further research and limit conducting experiments to the space of laboratories. There is no person able to precisely determine neither the changes caused by releasing GMOs to the environment nor their influence on human health. No laboratory tests are able to make a simulation of all the possible events and effects that could take place in the ecosystem.

When we look at the already described effects of releasing GMOs to the environment, we can clearly state that we are, without our consent, being a part of the experiment the results of which are impossible to predict. More information on the subject of GMOs and potential threats connected with them can be found in the article by Professor Tadeusz Żarski published in our report and in Jeffrey Smith's films included on DVD.

We act global!

Problems with food produced on the basis of genetically modified plants are not limited to the consumers health being at risk. Global food production is an issue of both political and economic nature. Information on the situation of Poland and Europe in the global line-up, on our assets and on what we lose when we agree to let GMOs on our farmland are presented in our report by Marek Kryda.

The rarely seen in the newspapers concept of "protein independence" to which he refers in the report is today the key to understanding where runs one of the most important front lines.

GMO Report

Significant here is the stand of the increasing number of European countries which by means of citizens' opinions and declarations of governments aim at appointing Europe to the position of "green continent", free of genetically modified crops and food. Bizarre in comparison to those countries is the situation of Poland which in the last few years has changed from a "GMO-free zone" to the country with the most rapidly increasing acreage of genetically modified corn crops. What are the risks of that, what are the causes of the legal mess and negative consequences for the consumers resulting from it - these questions are answered in the article by Dorota Metera, which introduces the European legal requirements for food production and, also, in a thorough article written by Paweł Połaniecki, which concludes our report.

The arguments presented in the publications prepared as a part of "GMO: what's it all about" project, among other things in the following report, are a one-sided view because we decided that the aim of a social organization is to present opinions of independent experts and worried citizens, and not the position of the powerful lobby connected with the farm and food industry.

In their publications, the latter group presents GM as a remedy for all global ills. But at a closer look it turns out that genetically modified crops are just a way to increase the profits of the producers of such plants, as well as of institutions and science laboratories which depend on them.

Regardless of our approach to GM food, one thing should not be open to doubt. Genetically modified food should be clearly marked. If it is, indeed, safe, the manufacturers should convince he consumers of it with reliable research and national arguments. If it is better (as its supporters claim), the label "produced from GMO" should serve as an additional promotion. From our point of view, the most important thing is to leave the choice to the consumers. It will be possible only if the products are labeled, preferably with an unambiguous, clear graphic sign. This is the absolute minimum that can and should be demanded by the citizens.

Therefore, after reading through our report, we encourage everybody to sign and promote our online petition on www.naturalnegeny.pl. When the number of signatures reaches critical mass, able to move political powers in the parliament, we will hand it over to the legislators as the voice of citizens who demand respecting their right of conscious choice and who protest against their compulsory treatment as guinea pigs.

Below you can read the text of the complaint sent to the European Commission against Poland

Download[ENG] (.pdf)

13.12.2010. 11:22