Help us continue to speak out in support of GMO-free and pesticide-free food and farming 

Next year marks the 20th anniversary of the founding of GMWatch and we’re still right in the thick of the fight for GMO-free and pesticide-free food and farming.

This year has seen some serious threats to this worldwide movement but also major breakthroughs and opportunities. We've listed some of them below.  

We believe that knowledge is power. So we've kept you updated with all these developments – but we couldn't have done it without your support. Now we need your help once again. Please can you pitch in with a donation to help us continue our work?  

Whichever country you're in, you can donate easily and quickly here: http://www.gmwatch.org/en/donations

The most critical support comes from our monthly sustainers. Their regular donations are vital to our success and make it possible for us to expand our work and ensure we keep the information and inspiration flowing.

And GMWatch's influence grows all the time. The Brussels-based GMO and pesticide lobbyist David Zaruk, who calls himself "The Risk-Monger", recently complained that "a small number of activists are hijacking the debate about modern farming practices". We're honoured that he singled out GMWatch for special mention – apparently we have a "loud voice"! [1]  

According to the market research firm Right Relevance, GMWatch tops the world rankings of Twitter influencers on the GMO topic. [2] We beat Monsanto into 4th place. Donald Trump came 6th and the prominent pro-GMO lobbyist Kevin Folta, who labels us a “hate group” and says we’re pure “evil”, limped in at 7th. GMWatch, needless to say, has a fraction of the resources at our opponents' disposal.

Please help us (http://www.gmwatch.org/en/donations) keep raising our voice on your behalf.

“GMWatch serves a critical role in countering the power and propaganda of the biotech industry. It is part of the lifeblood of our global alliance to protect our food and agriculture – communicating our successes, identifying emerging issues and catalysing resistance. Thank you GMWatch!” – Keisuke Amagasa, NO! GMO Campaign, Japan

2017 at a glance

* In 2017 the Monsanto-Bayer megamerger grew ever closer, threatening to bring together two of the most destructive companies on the planet, both of which have a long and disturbing history of corporate crimes. [3] And this is happening at a time that the US has possibly the most chemical-industry-friendly presidency it has ever known – and that’s saying something!

* Although the EU bowed to industry pressure and finally authorized glyphosate for another five years, France, Italy and Austria have all announced their intention to phase out the herbicide, while Germany’s Environment Ministry is looking to place as many restrictions as possible on its use. The campaign against glyphosate seems unstoppable, with each attempt to keep it on the market being met with more and more global resistance. Glyphosate has also served as a magnifying glass for the scientific and political fraud underlying numerous pesticides and other chemicals. The time is ripe for a poison-free agriculture. [4]

* Not only was the commercialization of India’s first GM food crop (GM mustard) held at bay in 2017, but India saw a massive uprising against GM Bt cotton, as the crop failed against the bollworm – the very pest it is claimed to be resistant to. Farmers even died from pesticide poisoning as they sprayed toxic chemicals onto the failing GM crop. Now farmer unions are demanding action against the companies that marketed Bt cotton seed.

* US farming is in crisis as Arkansas and other states move to restrict dicamba herbicide, which caused millions of acres of off-target damage in 2017. The herbicide is sprayed on Monsanto's new dicamba-tolerant crops, but drifts and volatilizes onto food crops, killing and stunting them. Monsanto is fighting the restrictions with lawsuits and cash-back bribes to farmers to keep them spraying dicamba. What happens next will be a pivotal moment in the future of US agriculture. If Monsanto wins, food security will be severely impacted. But if justice is done and dicamba spraying is banned, the American people and farmers have the chance to start to build a new, non-toxic agricultural system.

* Genome-editing technology poses a new threat to food integrity, as advocates are lobbying for deregulation and want no labeling at all. GMWatch has added its voice to those campaigning for genome-edited food products to be strictly regulated and labelled.

* The debate about gene drives has reached a new pitch of intensity, with scientists and civil society demanding a moratorium on this extinction technology and the US military being exposed as its biggest funder. And plans are afoot to use it in agriculture, where it would pose an even bigger threat than Terminator seeds.

Notes

1. https://www.fginsight.com/blogs/blogs/david-zaruk-farming-practices-are-under-attack-by-activists
2. http://info.rightrelevance.com/gmos-insights-analysis-may-june-2017/
3. http://www.gmwatch.org/en/articles/gm-firms
4. http://www.gmwatch.org/en/news/latest-news/18008