Industrialised, chemical-intensive agriculture and our globalised system of distributing food and fiber are literally destroying the Earth, driving two billion farmers off the land, and producing a product which is increasingly contaminated. That's why the wave of the future is organic and sustainable, not GMO.Ronnie Cummins, Organic Consumers Association, USA

Genetically Engineered (GE) crops are promoted as technological fixes to whatever current problems we face. A decade ago we were promised they would be the solution to hunger and poverty. Now they are claimed to be a solution to climate change and renewable energy. The evidence is clear, however, that instead of fulfilling this hype, GE crops devastate crop diversity, drive farmers into debt and create dependency on global corporations for seed and chemical inputs.

Corporations have lobbied for GE crops to be patented, claiming that the genes engineered into plants and animals from different species makes the new progeny "their" novel invention. Patenting of life means that farmers who grow GE crops are forbidden to save or exchange their seeds, and must buy them anew each season. Even though cross-pollination between fields by wind and insects is impossible to prevent, any farmer whose crop is contaminated with the GE gene is liable to corporate lawsuits. Farmers whose crops have been contaminated by the corporations' GE crop, have no recourse to justice. This is how the profit-driven companies plan to increase their market share, and to control the farmers and agricultural systems that we all depend on for our food.

Claims that GE will deliver drought-tolerant, disease-resistant and high-yielding crops have still not materialized in the two decades they have been promised by the companies. But GE crops have increased social injustice by violating farmers' rights, and contaminating an immeasurable number of crop varieties. See related links below for further reading and evidence.

Our Work

Gaia works with partner organisations in the African Biodiversity Network, to raise awareness about the socio-economic and ecological impacts of GE crops and patents on life. We encourage people to commit not to grow GE crops, or consume GE foods. We believe we have a responsibility to ensure that our global food supply systems are not controlled by commercial interests because food is a fundamental right for all. This is why we promote the principles of food sovereignty as the basis for a just and fair food system.

Check out the trailer for our new film Seeds of Freedom, co-produced with the African Biodiversity Network. And read our blog about the new report produced by Navdanya: "The GMO Emperor has no Clothes" - A Global Citizens Report on the State of GMOs.