Consumers have different needs and want choice, especially in tough economic times, but also want to protect the environment, and support European products.

We need more and better information. Surveys show time and again that consumer perception in the EU is actually much more favourable towards GM foods than is commonly depicted. Recent European Commission figures show that 77% of European citizens believe that Europe should take advantage of innovations like GM in agriculture.

If you knew that…

• Using GM crops can produce food and animal feed containing fewer natural toxins such as mycotoxins.
• GM crops available to Europeans have to pass the worlds most stringent and science-based safety standards before they are approved. Scientists say they are as safe, if not safer, than traditionally developed products.
• GM crops can mitigate the impact of climate change by enabling farmers to grow more food, more reliably, in harsher climatic conditions.

…would you give Europeans the choice to grow and buy GM crops and foods? Support free choice.

Allowing a range of food production methods, including the use of agricultural innovation, can help consumers to meet environmental and economic challenges and results in better control over quality and safety standards.

As consumers, we want choice. As consumers, we need information. As consumers, we need to know that we have access to affordable and safe food that is produced in an environmentally friendly way. Europeans deserve to have this choice.

Across Europe farmers are facing challenging times. They are under pressure to produce more high quality affordable food using fewer natural resources. Global competitors are often not subject to the same restrictions and denied the opportunity to choose GM crops as a way to face these challenges.

Ironically, Europeans import and eat GM food and feed from outside the EU, but in many EU countries they don’t let their farmers grow the same products that they import. This reduces EU farmers’ competitiveness globally.

If you knew that…

• The use of GM crops can increase field yields by 6-30% on the same amount of land.
• Farmers who plant GM maize because it is resistant to the insect pest the corn borer have 10% average higher outputs and profitability improvements of between 12% and 21%.
• The use of GM crops can result in permanent reductions in fuel use and CO2 emissions due to less ploughing.
• In 2007, CO2 not emitted because of global biotech crops was equivalent to removing 6.9 million cars from the road for one year.
• According to the European Commission survey published in March 2010, 77% of European citizens agree that the EU should encourage its farmers to take advantage of the latest developments in agricultural biotechnology.

…would you give Europeans the choice to grow and buy GM crops and foods? Support free choice.

Our farmers should have access to tools that make them more competitive and more sustainable. Holding back Europe’s farmers means making Europe an agricultural backwater increasingly dependent on food and feed imports from other countries.

Stop holding Europe back. Support choice for Europe’s farmers.

Now more than ever, Europe needs to base its future policies to tackle major environmental, energy and food security challenges, on sound science and responsible innovation.

The EU must contribute more effectively towards informing citizens about agricultural biotechnology, its safety, its advantages and the existing regulatory framework.

We need to nurture and promote coherent pro-growth and pro-development policies that do not discriminate against this promising technology.

If you knew that…

• The use of GM crops can increase yields by 6-30% on the same amount of land.
• The use of GM crops can result in permanent reductions in fuel use and CO2 emissions due to less ploughing.
• In 2007, CO2 not emitted because of global biotech crops was equivalent to removing 6.9 million cars from the road for one year.
• Water stress areas in Europe are expected to increase from 19% today to 35% by 2070. Field trials have shown that drought-tolerant crops can yield up to 20% more than their non-GM counterparts.
• According to the European Commission study published in March 2010, 77% of European citizens agree that the EU should encourage its farmers to take advantage of the latest developments in agricultural biotechnology.

…would you give Europeans the choice to grow and buy GM crops and foods? Support free choice.

Support the development of policy based on sound science and responsible innovation to harness the benefit of GM crops and technology!

GM crops cannot alone solve world hunger, but they can certainly help. Applied properly, they will have an enormous positive impact on world food production by increasing agricultural productivity. In March 2009 the United Nations announced that the world’s population would reach 7 billion in 2010 and top 9 billion by 2050. We are already failing to feed a significant proportion of the world’s population and tonight roughly one billion people will go to bed hungry.

Somehow over the next 25-50 years, we will need to double food production on decreasing amounts of available arable land. GM crops can make a significant contribution by increasing productivity and thereby helping to stabilise food prices.

Developing countries are increasingly using GM technology with excellent results. Of the over 13.3 million farmers growing biotech globally, 90% are resource-poor and from developing countries. The increase in income from these crops combined with the reduced time spent on controlling pests and weeds contributes significantly to the alleviation of poverty for these farmers their families and their communities.

If you knew that…

• In many areas of the world, water is the biggest limiting factor in agriculture production and without adequate supply of water crop yields are severely compromised. Field trials have shown that drought-tolerant crops can yield up to 20% more than their non-GM counterparts in harsh conditions.
• The use of GM crops can increase yields by 6-30% on the same amount of land.
• Over 13 million farmers cultivating GM crops in 2009 worldwide were resource-poor farmers in developing countries.
• The use of GM crops can mitigate the impact of climate change by enabling farmers to grow more food, more reliably, in harsher climatic conditions.
• GM crops can help meet the Millennium Development Goals on reducing poverty.

…would you give Europeans the choice to buy and grow GM crops? Support free choice.

Farmers and exporters around the globe deserve to have fair and consistent rules for trade. The EU should nurture and promote coherent pro-growth and pro-development policies that do not discriminate against technology.

GM crops ensure higher yields and more reliable agricultural production. By holding Europe back, we risk holding back developing countries also. Europe should have the choice to embrace agricultural innovation and fully engage with the developing world.

Although the birthplace of agricultural biotechnology was in Europe, our leadership position and objectivity has been seriously undermined by years of sustained anti-GM scare-mongering based on bad science. To date, and despite the fact that GM crops are now grown by 13 million farmers worldwide, there has not been a single substantiated case of harm. To regain political leadership we desperately need long-term visions to:

• put science at the heart of decision making
• reinstate Europe’s agricultural competitiveness in the global marketplace
• tackle the challenges of feeding an increasing population in an unpredictable climate
• address the increasing scarcity of natural resources and available farmable land provide agricultural sustainability.

Currently we lack the same tools to help address tough choices about the environment and economy. Europe, like its global competitors, must have the choice to benefit from agricultural technology.

If you knew that…

• 77% of European citizens say the EU should encourage its farmers to take advantage of the latest biotechnology developments, according to a European Commission survey published in March 2010.
• In 2005 49% of Europeans prefer to buy GM foods if they were produced in a more environmentally friendly way than conventional alternatives.
• Consumers increasingly rank GM at the bottom of the list of all concerns about foods. For example in the UK, only 3% of people spontaneously mention GM as a concern.

…would you give Europeans the choice to grow and buy GM crops and foods? Support free choice.

A prosperous and successful Europe must embrace innovation in all areas including agriculture. Biotechnology provides choice for consumers and for farmers and it is one of the tools available to help work towards improving our economy, our food supply and our agricultural sustainability.

Europeans deserve to be offered the choice to grow the crops that work for them, and should have access to affordable and safe food that is produced in an environmentally friendly way.

The choice should be open for all Europeans to access agricultural innovation. Let’s stop holding Europe back. Support choice now!