We won't sell it! Majority of EU retailers say no to GE
Thu 03 February 2005
NETHERLANDS/Amsterdam
http://www.greenpeace.org/international_en/news/details?item_id=732640

The EU market is worth over 1 thousand billion Euros in annual food and drink sales. It is effectively closed to GE-labelled ingredients according to policies of leading retailers and food producers, as revealed in the Greenpeace EU Markets Report, published today.
http://www.greenpeace.org/international_en/multimedia/download/1/724658/0/mktnew.pdf

49 of the 60 top companies contacted have a non-GE policy in their own brands either throughout the EU or at least in the market where they make the majority of their sales. A further 8 companies gave a non-GE commitment in a number of countries but not yet in all of their EU markets. Two companies never responded and one company, the Dutch Royal Ahold (Albert Heijn), uses GE ingredients in 3 to 5 of its own brand products but noted that this number is declining. A significant number of companies stated that their policy applied globally or company wide.

New European legislation requiring the labelling and traceability of GE products came into force in April 2004.

Since that time, our volunteers and cyberactivists have been patrolling supermarkets as "Gene Detectives." These activists monitor the shelves and report GE-labelled food by uploading pictures of the products to an interactive map.
http://weblog.greenpeace.org/ge/map.html

To date, very few products in a handful of countries (The Netherlands, UK, Czech Republic, Slovakia, and France) have been reported.

The wide-spread nature of the consumer and company rejection of GE products has now been sustained over many years in Europe.

This demonstrates that excluding GE ingredients is possible in practise on a large scale. Labelling polices are practical for other countries such as Japan, Brazil, and the US, where consumers have an equal right to know what their food is made from, and ought to be given the choice what to buy.

Instead, the US government has taken a lawsuit to the World Trade Organisation, accusing EU legislation of setting up unfair trade barriers to GE products. This study provides further evidence that the lost exports have in fact been caused by consumer and food industry rejection, not EU policies.

The fact is: people don't want to buy it. Stores don't want to sell it. And the GE multinationals can't make us eat it.

Take Action
Live in the EU? Look for GE products in your supermarket, and http://weblog.greenpeace.org/ge/action.html report them at Trolleywatch.
http://act.greenpeace.org/ecs/s2?sk=std&i=863
this e-card to your friends demanding that the Bush Administration stop trying to use the WTO to force feed GE products on the world.

Right

Marks and Spencer, UK:
"In 1999 responding to consumer concerns Marks & Spencer announced that it would cease selling products containing GM ingredients and derivatives. As a 100 percent own brand company this policy covers all food and drink purchased at Marks & Spencer. "
(Letter to Greenpeace UK, February 2004)

Wrong

Albert Heijn, Netherlands:

"Albert Heijn takes a neutral position on the use of genetic modification of plant-like organisms."
(Letter to Greenpeace Netherlands, March 2004)

Is your supermarket GE-free?
Read more declarations in the full report.
http://www.greenpeace.org/international_en/multimedia/download/1/724658/0/mktnew.pdf