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Thursday January 01 1970

Sligo And Castlebar Against EU Directive Banning Sales of Seeds - Sat 25th May

category national | environment | event notice author Friday May 24, 2013 19:27author by Slugwoman Report this post to the editors

New EU directive banning seeds except by large corporations are pushing GM seeds

Public meeting about recent EU draft legislation, adopted 6th May on the quiet, effectively banning seeds...

Protest march in Castlebar 1.30pm, meeting at The Mall (grassy area near library) and heading to End Kennys office. Saturday.

Public meeting about recent EU draft legislation, adopted 6th May on the quiet, effectively banning the sale and distribution of seeds. Unless you're a large corporation.

Talk in Sligo town at 1.00pm
The Source Cafe.

Protest march in Castlebar 1.30, meeting at The Mall (grassy area near library) and heading to End Kennys office. Saturday.

Editor: See also March Against Monsanto - May 25th in Dublin, Cork, Clare & Galway

There is some further information on this disgraceful move at these links:

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This would obviously impact the active allotment and permaculture scene in Bristol

Regulation on Marketing of Plant Reproductive Material goes before the EU comissioners on May 6th 2013

If passed it would mean no seed can be sold or even given for free to anyone anywhere in the EU unless it is registered on the EU Plant List as an ‘approved’ variety. This would effectively outlaw Heritage seeds in the EU.
From: http://bristol.indymedia.org/article/737627

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"Seed lovers, growers and local producers could all be harmed under the proposed Regulation on Marketing of Plant Reproductive Material by the EU. ......
The Regulation on Marketing of Plant Reproductive Material law will mean no seed can be sold, or potentially even given for free to anyone in the EU unless that seed is already registered on the EU Plant List as an 'approved' variety.

This would outlaw heritage seeds, that are historical and natural seeds which have not been manufactured into hybrids. They produce natural plants that our ancestors would have grown.

This new regulation threatens farmers' varieties and rare varieties, stoping diversity and could bring distinction to the many seeds that will not be on the EU list.

Small-scale farmers and local producers will be harmed as industrial seed companies extend their dominance and reap the benefits.

From: http://www.permaculture.co.uk/news/0105133318/new-eu-law-could-ban-our-seeds

See also: http://open-seeds.org/#Custom

author by Tpublication date Sat May 25, 2013 13:15author address author phone Report this post to the editors

This latest travesty at trying to stop people from growing their own food gives strong confirmation to the long held view in some quarters that large corporations are attempting to control our food supply. With the legislation recently in the USA whereby biotech corporations -and this was designed largely for Monsanto -means Monsanto can no longer be sued for the ill-health effects of any of its GM crops and their technology of terminator genes which prevent seeds from germinating on their own and means farmers and growers must then buy seeds every year and would be unable to use their own seeds show that with the EU banning the sale and distribution of seeds from small and independent suppliers/growers and individuals, this will then seal the public off completely from accessing their own food sources and would force everyone to be dependent on giant biotech corporations like Monsanto.

It will give them a guaranteed market to push anything they want on people and it will be illegal to grow your own food and indeed impossible to source the seeds. And as we know GM food is harmful and dangerous to humans, other animals and the environment at large. The vast majority of all genetic modifications to plants are not to boost yield but to increase their tolerance to further and heavier doses of pesticides and herbicides both of which biotech companies like Monsanto sell.

And a classic example of how crazy and absurd the use of GM crops is already can be found in this story:

Nearly Half of All US Farms Now Have Superweeds
http://www.motherjones.com/tom-philpott/2013/02/report-...-12-0