Press release - April 28, 2010
Brussels, Belgium — Greenpeace volunteers dressed as chefs to hand out hundreds of anti-GM spoof cookbooks to Commission staff in the EU quarter today. MEPs, permanent representatives for member states and Brussels journalists also received the colourful eight-page booklet, called Genetically Modified Recipes for Disaster.
EU health commissioner John Dalli picks up a copy of the anti-GMO spoof cookbook distributed to European Commission staff by Greenpeace 'chefs' this morning in Brussels. The book stars commissioner Dalli, who recently
authorised an antibiotic-resistant GM potato, and pro-GMO Commission president José Manuel Barroso.
The book stars pro genetic modification (GM) Commission president José Manuel Barroso and health commissioner John Dalli, who recently broke a 12 year pause in the authorisation of GM crops by approving the controversial antibiotic-resistant GM Amflora potato. A billboard campaign across Brussels last week heralded the booklet's launch.
Greenpeace's GM policy director Marco Contiero said: "Barroso, Dalli and the biotech industry are cooking up a disaster for the whole EU. Genetic modification has detrimental impacts on the environment, damages conventional and organic farmers, gives a handful of corporations control over food and poses irreversible health threats. The cookbook is a playful way of highlighting the very serious problems caused by genetic modification."
The Amflora authorisation went against the will of EU member states, public opinion and the advice of international medical experts from the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the European Medicines Agency (EMEA), who stressed the vital importance of antibiotics affected by the potato's genetic makeup.
Barroso is consistently pushing a pro-GM agenda and even formally excluded the environment Commissioner from GM decision-making, concentrating power in the hands of health commissioner Dalli. Greenpeace was appalled that Dalli's first decision on the matter disregarded the health advice of the WHO and EMEA.
Greenpeace is calling for a halt to the authorisation of GM crops until the current system is significantly strengthened. The EU's 27 member states unanimously urged the Commission to do this in December 2008.
Click here for an electronic version of the Cookbook. For the scientific references of the Cookbook, please click here.
The cookbook is part of a larger campaign against GM in Europe.Anti-GM actions have been taking place across Europe in the last few weeks, united by a pan-European bus tour. To find out more, read the web story.
A petition calling for a ban on new GM crops on the continent has passed 600,000 signatures since its launch in mid-March. To view this petition click here