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forwarded message from Sébastien Denys:

Dear all,

Please find below an emergency message and a call for action against the suspected decision by the European Commission to allow a high level of contamination of conventional AND organic seeds by GM.

- The emergency message from "Save our Seeds"

- Another from the Green group in the European Parliament

- A proposal of standard letter from Jean Saunders

- The coordinates of involved European Commissioners

Sincerely yours,
Sébastien Denys

---- Original Message -----

From: "INFO SOS" This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
To: <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.>
Sent: Thursday, August 26, 2004 12:48 PM
Subject: SOS: EU Commission vote on GMO in Seeds Sept 8th - ACT NOW

Dear friends of GMO-free Seeds!

After the summer break we would like to update you with great urgency about the situation regarding the European Commissions plans to allow for unlabelled contamination of conventional and organic seeds with genetically modified varieties. We count once more on your swift and active support as there is an immediate threat that seed contamination thresholds will be established by the Commission on September 8th.

EU-Brussels these days is in transition: A new European Commission has been named by its new President, José Manuel Durao Barroso, which will take over on November 1st. Until then the old Commission under President Romano Prodi is still in power. Some Commissioners will leave, others will take over new responsibilities. The newly elected European Parliament will hold hearings to interview the new Commissioners, before it will vote on their approval.

In this situation Margot Wallström, the outgoing Commissioner for Environment on September 8th will propose to the old Commission a draft "Commission decision establishing minimum thresholds for adventitious or technically unavoidable traces of genetically modified seeds in other products", which sets thresholds for unlabelled GM contamination of seeds at 0,3% for maize and oilseed rape. If adopted, only a 2/3 majority of the Council of Ministers could stop this proposal from entering into force under the legal "comitology" procedure chosen by the Commission.

As you know, "Save our Seeds" demands conventional and organic seeds to stay free of GMOs and any presence of GMOs to be labelled at the practical detection level (0,1%). This position is supported by hundreds of thousands European Citizens, by over 300 organisations with more than 25 million members as well as the European Parliament and many Member States. Only recently the Danish Minister of Agriculture, Else Mariann Fischer Boel, introduced her countries demand to establish GMO labelling in seeds at 0,1% in the Council of Agricultural Ministers. As of November Mrs. Boel will be the new EU-Commissioner for Agriculture.

Contamination thresholds as proposed by Mrs. Wallström would be an introduction of GMOs in all seeds and food against the will of consumers and farmers. It would make non-GM farming most difficult and would massively increase the costs of farming and of non-GM products. It would also render control and monitoring of GMO releases into the environment practically impossible and induce widespread and uncontrolled GM contamination throughout Europe.

For nearly three years now the Commission could not enact a regulation of GM seed contamination. Resistance from civil society and objections of the European Parliament and Member States have prevented such legislation repeatedly. Now, in their last days, the outgoing Commissioners should not try to sneak such a fundamental and highly contentious piece of legislation through the present vacuum of political power in Brussels. It should be up to the new Commission to present a coherent and well founded proposal, based on a broad agreement in European society and on sound scientific and economic assessments of it's implications on the environment, on farmers and food producers and last not least on the consumers in Europe.

Please act now!

We ask you to send faxes and letters to the key Commissioners responsible, and especially to their President, Romano Prodi to let the Commissioners know that society is following their plans and does not approve this attempt to introduce fundamental and highly contentious legislation in their last days. We also believe that the European Parliament, which will interview the new Commissioners over the next weeks before voting on their approval, should raise this issue of GM seed contamination and the way Mrs. Wallström, who is a designated Vice-President of the new Commission, handles this.

Despite massive lobby efforts of international agro-business and the US mission to the EU, a clear majority of European citizens wants pure, non-GM seeds and must not be ignored.

Please find attached a letter with some arguments, you may find useful, as well as addresses and further information on the key EU Commissioners involved.

We trust in your continued support and are confident that together we will ultimately save our seeds!

Benedikt Haerlin

Save our Seeds

for further information and news please check our web-site: http://www.saveourseeds.org

or contact us directly:

SOS
Marienstr.19-20, 10117 Berlin, Germany
Tel. +49 (0)30 24047146 Fax. +49 (0)30 275903 12
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

-------- Original Message --------

Subject: Contaminated seeds by GMO's, Commission decision on September 8th, 2004,.... A PROPOSAL Date: Wed, 28 Jul 2004 15:57:30

+0200 From: SOMVILLE Michel <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.>
Michel Somville
Adviser on genetic engineering issues
The Greens / EFA Group
European Parliament, Brussels
Office: PHS 6C86
rue Wiertz, B-1047 Brussels
Tel: + 32 2 284 16 92
Fax: + 32 2 284 25 60
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

-------- Original Message --------

Subject: Re: GM-ACT: Fw: EU Commission vote on GMO in Seeds Sept 8th -

ACT NOW Date: Thu, 26 Aug 2004 20:20:19 +0100 From: Jean Saunders <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.> To: GM Action This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. References: <002301c48b72$40978160$8bcc403e@Saunders>

Here's the letter you can send.........

Dear Commissioner ...

I have learned with great concern that a proposal for a Commission decision to allow so called "adventitious and technically unavoidable presence" of genetically modified varieties in conventional seeds will be discussed and probably adopted by the College of Commissioners in September. This proposal would allow at least for maize and oilseed rape unlabelled GM contamination of all seeds on the market up to 0,3%.

As you probably know, a large majority of European Citizens does not want any GMOs in their food and on their fields and hundreds of organisations and hundreds of thousand individuals have already protested against such an uncontrollable and hidden introduction of GM crops into the environment and our food. Also the European Parliament and a variety of national governments and parliaments have taken a clear position against such contamination levels and demand labelling of GM seeds at the detection level (0,1%) instead. Also within the Commission this proposal has been discussed controversially over the past couple of months.

In this situation I feel it would be neither appropriate nor democratic if the outgoing Commission would adopt in one of her last meetings a proposal, which legally could only be reverted by a qualified majority of the Council of Ministers. The regulation of seed purity, which is a fundamental issue for environmental and consumer protection as well as the freedom of choice, should not be rushed through in a last minute effort by means of a procedure that does not allow for democratic participation and consensus.

I therefore urge you to raise your voice and your vote in the College of Commissioners against the adoption of the GM seed proposal. It should be left to the new Commissioners in charge to find an integrated solution in co-operation with the Parliament and the Council, which is based upon sound scientific advise, an impeccable legal procedure and a consensus of society rather than short term internal considerations and the obvious pressure of interested industries and external government representations.

Seeds are the source of live and the basis of agriculture and food. I trust that you will not want to participate in jeopardising their integrity by reverting important principles of European GMO legislation, such as the precautionary principle, freedom of choice, protection of non-GM agriculture and the use of best available science and technology.

Sincerely

----------------

Please contact:
Romano Prodi, present President of the Commission
Rue de la Loi 200
1049 Brussels
Belgium
Tel: +32.2.2967246
+32.2.2991563
Fax: +32-2 295 0138/39/40
+32.2.2956336
Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Margot Wallström, present Commissioner for Environment and future Vice President of the Commission
Commissioner for the Environment
Rue de la Loi 200
B-1049 Brussels
Belgium
E-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Phone: + 322 2981800
Fax: + 322 2981899

Stavros Dimas, future Commissioner for Environment, present Commissioner for Social Affairs
Commissioner for Employment and Social Affairs
Rue de la Loi 200
B-1049 Brussels
Belgium
E-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Fax: +32 2 2982 099

Markos Kyprianou, future Commissioner for Cosumer protection and present Commissioner without portfolio
Rue de la Loi 200
B-1049 Brussels
Belgium
E-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Else Mariann Fischer Boel, future Commissioner for Agriculture and presently Danish Minister for Agriculture
[no personal contact details available yet - ]
Commissioner for Agriculture
Rue de la Loi 200
1049 Brussels
Belgium
Fax: +32/2/29-59 225
[no individual contact details available yet]

To look up your Members of the European parliament go to the Parliaments web-site at:
http://wwwdb.europarl.eu.int/ep6/owa/p_meps2.repartition?ilg=EN