Campaign to Stop GM Wheat

Wheat industry groups in the United States, Canada and Australia said May 14, 2009, they would work toward the objective of "synchronized commercialization of biotech traits in the wheat crop."

This must be stopped.

1. Roundup Ready wheat will contaminate conventional and organic wheat and destroy the diversity and adaptability of locally-bred varieties critical to ensuring food supplies in regions across the globe.

2. The only genetic trait for which Monsanto has sought approval is tolerance to the herbicide glyphosate that it sells under the name Roundup. Roundup Ready wheat is not designed to increase yields to feed the world, but to increase Monsanto's profits by increasing the use of its herbicide Roundup. During the global food crisis of 2008, Monsanto's profits increased 120%. Since the introduction of GE crops in 1996, the number of people going hungry in the world has ballooned from an estimated 800 million to over 1 billion.

3. Improving crop quality is the key to providing higher net incomes for farmers and weathering climate change. Higher quality wheat is being produced through conventional plant breeding, not Monsanto's genetic engineering, which is focused on making farmers dependent on Monsanto's expensive seeds and herbicides.

4. In countries requiring the labeling of food produced through the use of genetically engineering, GE crops have been limited to those used primarily for feed, oil and fiber. This has allowed food companies to avoid national labeling requirements. GE wheat, however, would primarily be used for human consumption and food products derived from GE wheat would be labeled in many countries across the world.

5. All studies on the subject have shown that consumers will reject genetically engineered food if it is labeled. Consumer rejection of GE food is rational. The amount of herbicides used on Roundup Ready GE crops is much higher than that used on conventional and organic crops.

6. There have been no long-term studies on the human health effects of consuming foods, like Roundup Ready wheat, that have been genetically engineered to withstand massive doses of herbicides. Since 1996, we have all been subjects in an experiment on the safety of GE crops. Only when children born after 1996 reach reproductive age and beyond will we have some idea as to whether GE food crops were safe or not. If observations of animals fed GE crops are any indication, we can expect to see severe health and fertility problems in this first generation of GE-consuming humans.

We must stop GE wheat and withdraw other Roundup Ready crops from the food supply before it is too late.

Thank you for your attention to this important matter. Get involved here...