22/05/2013 0:03

Dear supporter of the petition „Seed diversity under threat“!

Thank you for supporting our petition! Three weeks ago it went online, and the English version now has some 7000 signatures. In total, in more than 17 languages, we now have over 37.000 signatures from all over Europe and beyond.

On Monday the 6th of May, the EU Commission approved a propoosal of the Plant Reproductive Material (PRM) marketing regulation, based on an earlier Nov 2012 draft criticized by our petition. The proposal however includes a provision for „niche“ varieties, and this is only due to the pressures collectively put on the politicians.

There are a number of criticisms of this proposal, see for example the press release of Arche Noah www.saatgutkampagne.org/130507_press_release_Arche_Noah.PDF and the press release of the German umbrella organisation for crop and livestock biodiversity, "Seed that can be saved is disappearing from the market" kulturpflanzen-nutztiervielfalt.org/seed-can-be-saved-disappearing-market .

The demands of our petition stand, and will now be directed to the members of the EU Parliament and EU Council of Ministers.

Ahead of the vote on 6 May, six commissioners were informed about the petition as well as the current number of signatures on each of the languages. We demanded they reject the regulation, but it passed regardless.

It is now important to emphasize the demands that a new EU seed regulation must create the right conditions for seeds of diversity, farm bred varieties and varieties uniquely suited for organic culture by virtue of their genetic diversity. In the coming weeks and months we will count on your help for this, as we talk to member of the EU Parliament and/or stand up in other ways politically for our demands.

For the petition written in other languages, please see here: www.seed-sovereignty.org/EN/

Sincerely,
Andreas Riekeberg