Anti-GM groups ask for ban
While there is no mechanism in Greece to implement EU legislation on GM food, opposition to GM crops is growing. The League of Anti-GM Agencies, Networks and Movements recently held its Panhellenic congress under the slogan «Not on the shelf and not in the fields.» Representatives of hundreds of groups that oppose the intoduction of GM products into Greece met to decide on action, seeing that the EU is likely to give the go-ahead for new GM varieties. The league voted on a resolution in favor of: – Keeping Greece and Europe free of GM substances; – High-quality, safe agriculture; – Local products (traditional, organic and controlled appellation). The anti-GM groups asked the government to ratify and implement the Biosafety Protocol and to prohibit the importation, distribution, sale and cultivation of GM organisms in Greece, on the legal principle of precaution. They also called on the minister of agricultural development and food to vote in the Council of Agriculture Ministers against the import of the Bt11 variety of GM corn. They asked consumers not to buy products which contain GM substances, and local networks to take initiatives to raise awareness of the issue.
