*[Enwl-eng] A bitter blow for agriculture industry giants
ENWLine
Hi,
From today things are going to get much more tricky for Monsanto/Bayer executives, and safer for us. There are some victories to savour, and this is one of them.
Last week, new EU legislation came into force that makes it harder for toxic pesticides and poisons in our food system to enter the market. [1] This will make our food system the most transparent in the world and provide public access to industry studies that the likes of Bayer wanted to keep secret.
It took years of campaigning to make it happen, and we’ve won! It was five years ago when we launched the first campaign action to try and get this new law. [2] And it simply would not have been possible without small, regular donations from WeMove Europe members like you.
Regular donations meant we could do what was needed to win. Whether that was to commission the best independent scientists to check Bayer’s dodgy “science”, organise a last-minute big media stunt, or organise mass actions targeting decision-makers. [3] We were able to throw everything at it.
So that’s why we wanted to ask you, whether you might be able to chip in a small amount monthly to help us win more campaigns like this one. Will you help?
| Yes, of course |
| No, sorry |
None of us alone would have the power to fight back against the pesticide industry - and agribusiness giants like Monsanto/Bayer. But together we’ve made our politicians listen to the public interest, not corporate interests.
The new law is a bitter blow to the big agriculture industry and a win for all Europeans. You can be sure that the likes of Bayer won’t take this defeat lying down, we have to be ready for the next attack.
Our community doesn’t have a massive budget, we have a small nimble team who make sure your donations go as far as possible to win the campaigns you care about. Small, regular donations help us react quickly to the moments that matter. So, can you help?
| Yes, of course |
| No, sorry |
Onwards!
David (London), Olga (Bologna) and the entire WeMove Europe
team
PS: Here’s the story of how we won
- Our community has been fighting against the likes of Monsanto/Bayer and the pesticides industry since we were founded just six short years ago. We roused an EU-wide public debate on glyphosate and pesticides, but the EU granted the glyphosate’s license an emergency extension in 2016. [4]
- So in 2017, our community and partners decided to ramp up the pressure and launch an official “European Citizens’ Initiative” (ECI) to ban glyphosate. We collected the required 1,000,000 signatures in record time. [5]
- Together, our community and partners made the difference between glyphosate being granted the 15-year license that the industry wanted, and the 5-year license they got. Our media stunts, phone calls and emails to national ministers held weight, and together we proved that our people-power was stronger than the corporate lobby.
- But that wasn’t all -- in an official response to our ECI, the EU Commission proposed this major change to EU General Food Law, to increase transparency in the food chain. [6]
- And when corporate interests and the pesticide industry threatened to prevent more transparency, our community sprang into action again: we emailed our MEPs and signed a petition calling for precisely what industry fears most - transparency. This helped us win the key vote in passing the new law in 2018. [7]
Small, regular donations are what enabled our community to constantly put pressure where it was needed most along the way and allow us to act fast. Can you spare a few euros a month to help win more campaigns like this one?
References:
[1]
https://ec.europa.eu/food/safety/general_food_law/implementation-transparency-regulation_en
[2]
https://act.wemove.eu/campaigns/stop-glyphosate
[3]
https://www.euronews.com/2017/07/19/glyphosate-future-use-still-under-discussion-in-the-eu
[4]
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2016/jun/29/controversial-chemical-roundup-weedkiller-escapes-immediate-ban
[5]
https://europa.eu/citizens-initiative/initiatives/details/2017/000002_en
[6]
https://ec.europa.eu/transparency/regdoc/rep/3/2017/EN/C-2017-8414-F1-EN-MAIN-PART-1.PDF
[7]
https://act.wemove.eu/campaigns/protect-food-safety
https://www.euractiv.com/section/agriculture-food/news/choir-of-approval-over-new-eu-food-safety-transparency-rules/
WeMove Europe is an independent and values-based organisation that seeks to build people power to transform Europe in the name of our community, future generations and the planet.
WeMove Europe SCE mbH | Planufer 91 Berlin | www.wemove.eu | Privacy policy
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