PLEASE SUPPORT THE GM-FREE IRELAND CAMPAIGN
The GM-free Ireland campaign needs your financial support to keep going, faced with many challenges and opportunities to make a difference! The campaign is managed pro bono by volunteer labour, in-kind support, and donations from our members and the general public. Our work focusses on building public awareness of GM issues, lobbying and holding our politicians and civil servants accountable, and mobilising stakeholders to take responsibility as citizens. We have won a few battles - but the war is not over yet!
We are currently re-organising our funding system
and have temporarily disabled our online donations
Please contact us if you want to make a contribution.
The rest of this page details the following:
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Our Government must be held accountable to implement its October 2009 agreement to (a) ban field trials and cultivation of all GM crops in the Republic, and (b) introduce a voluntary GM-free label for food (including animal produce) produced without the use of GMOs. There is no sign of any related legislation yet. We don't know if Fine Gael accepts funding from Monsanto, the European Federation of Biotechnology or other agri-biotech industry lobby groups, but the party's hardline pro-GM policy makes it likely that it would scrap the GM-free Ireland policy agreement if it enters into power.
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Agri-biotech-chemical giants like Monsanto - and commodity traders like Cargill, Bunge and Archer Daniels Midland (ADM) - have been manipulating the rise in animal feed and food prices to promote GM farming as a solution to global food security, despite the recent United Nations International Assessment of Agricultural Science and Technology (IAAST) and a number of conclusive scientific reports which confirm that GM crops have lower yields which only benefit the corporate patent owners.
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The US government is threatening massive punitive trade sanctions against Ireland unless we vote YES on EC requests to approve new GM animal feed, food and crops, and the EC requested our government to "justify" its recent voting abstentions on GM food and feed.
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The Department of Food and Agriculture made a collosal strategic mistake by failing to communicate the new GM-free policy agreed in 2007 with a clear distinction between the proposed ban on GM crops and a voluntary phase-out of GM animal feed on which many farmers have become dependent. This was an open invitation for a counter-attack by the global agri-biotech lobby, which launched a massive disinformation campaign with help from the IFA, the Farmers Journal, Teagasc and the Irish Grain and Feed Association - widely disseminated through the Irish media ‚ to persuade politicians and farmers that Green Party policies would cause a collapse of our livestock and dairy industries unless we allow more GM feed imports from the USA.
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Instead of removing biotech industry lobbyists from key posts (including the CEO of the Food Safety Authority of Ireland), the Government appointed Dr Paddy Cunningham as Chief Scientific Adviser of Ireland, and Prof Gerry Boyle as CEO of Teagasc:
Ireland's new Chief Scientific Adviser Dr Paddy Cunningham is a member of the European Action on Global Life Sciences (EAGLES) task force of the European Federation of Biotechnology whose members comprise numerous biotech and pharmaceutical industry groups including Monsanto Europe, the Association of German Biotech Companies, the Biotechnology Industry Organisation (USA), etc. He is also a member of the Irish National Council on Biotechics, whose 2005 report "Genetically Modified Crops and Food: Threat or Opportunity for Ireland?" was a masterfully crafted work of biotech industry spin which concluded that "the genetic modification of crops is not morally objectionable in itself". Cunningham is also the former Chairman of the EU Advisory Committee on the Future of Biotechnology, and a former member of the European Group on Life Sciences. He recently worked as a consultant for the US company Elanco (a division of the US pharmaceuticals giant Eli Lilly and Co. that markets Monsanto's GM-produced Recombinant Bovine Somatotrophin growth hormone Posilac, which is illegal in the EU.
The new head of Teagasc Prof Gerry Boyle is an agricultural consultant to the World Bank, which uses public tax-payer funding from the rich countries to promote GM farming in the developing countries. Teagasc (which is also funded by you as tax-payer) will host an international conference promoting GM seeds and crops at University College Cork in August, on behalf of a Canadian biotech industry front group called the Agricultural Biotechnology International Conference (ABIC) Foundation, managed by Ag-West Bio Inc. and funded by Monsanto. ABIC's Board of Directors includes Jimmy Burke (the former head of Teagasc Crops Research), the conference chair Ashley O'Sullivan (a former Monsanto employee), Roger Kemble (President of Syngenta Biotechnology Inc), and Malcolm Devine (former employee of Aventis CropScience and Bayer CropScience)!
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Environment Minister John Gormley failed to ban the only GM crop authorised for cultivation in the EU (Monsanto's MON810 maize), even though six other EU member states have done so. He also failed to introduce legislation to keep GM crops out of National Parks and other protected areas, and has failed to recognise or even issue guidance to local authorities regarding voluntary GM-free zones (which are legal under EU law and under the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety), or mandatory GM-free zones (which are recognised by many EU member states). He also failed to ratify the Aarhus Convention (unlike ALL OTHER EU member states) and its Almaty Protocol which sets out precise provisions on public participation in decision-making regarding the deliberate release of genetically modified organisms.
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Agriculture Minister Mary Coughlan failed to vote NO against numerous EC requests to legalise new GM food and feed products; worse, she is now supporting biotech industry calls to scrap the EU's "zero tolerance" policy for food and animal feed contaminated with GM ingredients that are illegal in the EU. She has also failed to implement rigorous testing for illegal GM ingredients in animal feed imports, failed to introduce mandatory or even voluntary GM labelling for meat, poultry and dairy produce from livestock fed on GM ingredients, like in Germany where retailers will this week introduce GM labels for Irish meat and milk from GM-fed livestock.
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Minister for Health Mary Harney failed to inform cafes, restaurants and food caterers that it is illegal for them to serve food containing or derived from GM ingredients without a label to inform the customer, even though this law is now enforced in the UK. She also failed to implement the Recommendation of the Interdepartmental Group on Modern Biotechnology (published by the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment in October 2000) which states: "We recommend that independent generic research (not limited to any particular product) be conducted in this country into all aspects of GMOs including human health and safety, animal feed and live crops, and the effects of GMOs on the environment, including wildlife and biodiversity, having regard to our distinctive climate and geological conditions". And she failed to implement Article 14 of European food safety legislation (EC/178/2002) calling for the assessment of the long term effects of GMOs and effects of subsequent generations.
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Foreign Affairs Minister Dermot Ahern failed to reject the WTO's scientifically absurd claim that GM food and crops are "substantially equivalent" to their natural counterparts and thus "generally recognised as safe", which are used by the GM industry and the WTO to force EU member states to open their markets to these products. He also failed to protest the interference of the Canadian Government operative, Shane Morris, who persuaded various donors to cancel agreed funding for our campaign in 2007 and 2008 and threatened us with legal action if we did not censor or website to cover up his scientific fraud. We had to rely on British MPs in the House of Commons to complain to the Canadian Government on our behalf!
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The Department of Trade and Enterprise failed to require retailers to place GM food on separate shelves (like Cyprus), and continues to allow the Irish Patent Office to grant new GM seeds patents to Monsanto, BASF, Sygenta et al.
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The Revenue Commission ordered An Taisce to close its dedicated bank account for charitable contributions to the GM-free Ireland public awareness campaign, thus discouraging much-needed financial support.
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Animal feed importer R&H Hall - in collusion with agribusness giants Cargill, Bunge and ADM - still refuses to import adequate supplies of certified non-GMO soya and maize animal feed for Irish farmers wishing to retain access to the growing EU market for quality GM-free meat and dairy produce, despite the fact that GM-free feed is available in 43 EU Regions. This has the additional effect of forcing conventional farmers who want to be GM-free to buy up organic feed supplies, thus penalising organic farmers.
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The European Commission is now proposing to allow the placing on market of meat and milk from cloned animals!
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The Irish news media continue to provide no coverage of GM news that make headlines in other EU countries, and then only with a pro-GM bias.
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Unless we reject it in the forthcoming referendum, the Lisbon Treaty will empower EC bureaucrats with more legal powers to introduce GM food and farming against the wishes of the majority of member states. This will make the EU less democratic than it already is.
In other words, the EC and our government remain part of the problem instead of the solution. If we want to protect Ireland from the GM invasion, we the citizens must take personal responsibility – as Gandhi said - to be the change we want to see in the world!
WHAT WE HAVE ACCOMPLISHED SO FAR:
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Volunteer work: The campaign co-ordinator (Michael O'Callaghan) has contributed most of his time pro bono. Many others at home and abroad have also donated time for specific events, including Minister Trevor Sargent TD, Senator David Norris, Senator Deirdre de Burca, Kathy Sinnott MEP, Marian Harkin MEP, Stiofan Nutty, Vandana Shiva, Deborah Koons Garcia, Percy Schmeiser, Helena Norberg-Hodge, Benny Haerlin, Prof Joe Cummins, Dr. Ricarda Steinbrecher, Dr. Michael Hansen, Geert Ritsema, Myrto Pispini, Adrian Bebb, Helen Holder, Clare Oxborrow, William Roth, Gerald Miles, Davie Phillips, Frank Corcoran, John Brennan, Padraig Fahy, Kate Carmody and the board of IOFGA, Kathryn Marsh, Erica Murray, Dell Eagle, Robert Pocock, Malcolm Thompson, Eddie Punch, Dr. Liz Cullen, Fr Seán McDonagh, Sr Marian Sullivan, Anja Murray, Marc Michel, Eoin Campbell, Mary Quintilliani, Lill Coyne, Conn Cremin, Tom O'Donovan, Nick Cullen, Jessica Roth, Will McCauley, and others too numerous to mention.
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Funding: Michael O'Callaghan contributed approximately €150,000 in cash expenses since 2004. The Irish Organic Farmers and Growers Association (IOFGA) generously provided € 40,000 from 2006 ‚ 2008. Glenisk gave € 5,000 in 2007. Smaller donations were made by the Ireland Funds, the EU Parliament Independence / Democracy Group, the Irish Association of Health Stores, Slow Food Ireland, the Irish Doctors Environmental Association (IDEA), Euro-Toques Ireland (the leading chefs association), Chapter One Restaurant, Avoca Handweavers, the Natural Medicine Company, the Academy of Everything is Possible, Darina Allen, Gianna Ferguson, John Brennan, Richard Auler, Stella Coffey, Dennis Healey, Marc, Klaus & Iris Michel, Anthony Ardee, and others too numerous to mention here, to whom much thanks!
But Michael O'Callaghan can no longer continue to fund the campaign, and also wants to phase in someone to replace him as co-ordinator as soon as possible.
WHAT WE WANT TO DO WITH YOUR FINANCIAL SUPPORT:
• Open a dedicated bank account for the GM-free Ireland campaign.
• Set up a core group to co-ordinate our members' activities.
• Recruit and train a new campaign co-ordinator.)
• Lobby the Irish Government, European Commission and Parliament to suppport GM-free Ireland objectives.
• Organise Irish delegations to participate in relevant EU conferences.
• Organise expert briefings and seminars to inform politicians and civil servants on GM issues.
• Engage the IFA, ICMSA and the Irish Grain and Feed Association in conversation about GM farming issues.
• Promote GM free meat and dairy produce as a means to support Irish food exports.
• Push importers and feed compounders to secure adequate supplies of certified non-GM animal feed for farmers.
• Upgrade GM-free Ireland web site with expert videos on GM issues, daily news, and improved email subscription.
• Produce and disseminate more educational DVDs, video clips and leaflets and stickers.
• Launch new action campaigns for stakeholder groups including farm organisations, women, students, and consumers.
• Engage food writers and journalists to provide frequent and responsible coverage of GM issues.
• Require implementation of EU law for labelling of GM food sold by restaurants, cafes and food caterers.
• Remove biotech industry lobbyists from public office (Chief Scientific Adviser, CEO of FSAI, CEO of Teagasc, etc.)
• Convince retailers to ban food containing or derived from GM ingredients from all their outlets.
• Invite Canadian Farmer Percy Schmeiser to meet Irish farming groups in October.
• Secure a GM-free food procurement policy for publicly-funded institutional canteens (government agencies, local authorities, hospitals, nursing homes, schools etc).
• Launch a GM-free universities and schools initiative.
• Catalyse development of Eco-Tourism areas that promote local GM-free and organic food. • Train local community organisers for every County in Ireland to become a GMO-free zone.
• Determine a budget and secure adequate funding for all of the above.
The daily work of our campaign co-ordinator includes strategic liaison with Friends of the Earth, Greenpeace and other European and international Non Governmental Organisations engaged in GM issues; networking with leading experts; keeping abreast of relevant scientific, economic and political developments; designing and producing outreach materials including GM-free zone signs, stickers and leaflets; writing articles and press releases; organising local community meetings, seminars, briefings and national conferences for government and civil society stakeholders; maintaining our web site with GM news updates; sending out frequent emails to targeted stakeholder groups including farming organisations, the media, government ministers, civil servants, TDs, Senators and MEPs; travel to regional and European conferences on GM issues; and frequent lobbying of politicians in Dublin and Brussels.
We have built our membership to 130 organisations with the greatest number and broadest diversity of any Non Governmental Organisation on this island (over 22 thousand members).
We organised numerous community meetings and workshops on GM issues around the country, hosted expert briefings on the health risks of GM food at the European Parliament Office in Dublin, participated in Joint Oireachtas Committee meetings, and organised the Green Ireland conference on branding for food, farming and ecotourism at Kilkenny Castle in 2007.
We intercepted a large illegal shipment of GM animal feed which entered the EU through Ireland, half of which was sold to Irish farmers, making international news.
We persuaded 19 local authorities representing over 1 million citizens to declare local GM-free zones (see map).
And we secured the coalition government's agreed Programme "to seek to negotiate to declare the island of Ireland as a GMO-free zone", thus adding Ireland to the list of EU member states that want Europe to become free of GM farming.
This progress has been made possible by:
