Friends of the Earth Denounce New Soy Standards
BRAZIL - A new initiative that will re-brand intensive GM soy and soy grown on deforested land as "responsible" will cause deforestation and sneak GM crops into the food system, Friends of the Earth announced.
1 June 2009
1 minute read
Predominantly made up of the businesses driving the soy expansion such as Monsanto and Cargill, the Round Table on Responsible Soy met in Campinas, Brazil to agree new voluntary standards on its cultivation. Over 80 organisations from around the world have signed up to a letter of opposition to the proposal.
Nearly all soy grown in South America is used as cheap animal feed for factory farms in Europe and increasingly as a biofuel, says Friends of the Earth. Its expansion in recent years has led to widespread deforestation, social conflicts, increased pesticide use and an increase in climate-changing emissions.
Friends of the Earth's Food Chain Campaign is calling on the Government to support farmers to develop home-grown alternatives to soy imports.
Friends of the Earth's Senior Food Campaigner, Clare Oxborrow said:
"There is nothing responsible about a scheme that will decimate forests and sneak unwanted GM crops into our food system."
"The meat and dairy industry's dependence on soy for animal feed is devastating small farmers here in the UK and in South America."
"This scheme must be abandoned and the Government must fix the food chain by replacing damaging soy imports with home-grown animal feed."
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