Brussels, 17/04/2001 (Agence Europe) - On the World Day for farmers' rights, the European Farmers' Coordination (EFC) organised, on 17 April in Brussels, a gathering before the head office of the European Compound Feed Manufacturers Federation (FEFAC) to denounce the harm done by the dumping of food and genetically modified organisms (GMOs). The EFC calls for the animal feed industry to be held responsible, both financially and before justice, for the BSE and dioxin contamination crises. It also calls for manufacturers to carry out full and compulsory labelling of animal feed with mention of the composition and origin of products, and that the EU draw up a positive list of products authorised for use in cattle feed. Coinciding with the World Day Against GMOs, the EFC demands the ban in Europe of imports and use of GMOs in agricultural production and the transformation as well as the cancellation of the 1998 Community directive authorising the patenting of living beings. The ban on living patents in the context of international agreements on intellectual property is also part of the EFC's requests.
The farmers' organisation network Via Campesina demands, for its part, that a stop be put to low price imports and the application of the principle of food sovereignty, mainly through: - exclusion from the WTO of all negotiation linked to the production and marketing of foodstuffs; - the abolition of subsidies and other forms of aid to exports; - and the abolition of the obligation to accept a rate of import equal to 5% of internal consumption.