Nature must not be patented!

Genetically modified cultures bring unnecessary risks to humans and nature. Their use increases the control of large corporations over nutrition, while putting a huge economic burden on conventional and organic food production. Conventional and organic food is at risk of contamination with genetically modified organisms (GMOs).

Centre for Environment stands for food and agriculture without GM crops and toxic pesticides. We advocate solutions that provide safe and healthy food for people and other species, protect biodiversity and do not adversely affect the environment. Our goal is to have GMOs big corporations out of our food and our farmlands.

Genetically modified crops carry big promises created by biotechnological corporations – increased yields, resistance and nutrition of GM crops. However, the truth is different because GM conditions do not yield higher yields compared to conventional, nor have greater resistance to diseases and pests. Moreover, planting GM crops increases the use of hazardous pesticides, such as glyphosate, which the World Health Organization has identified as a carcinogen. The consequence is the development of weeds that become resistant to the most commonly used pesticide, and the use of the chemistry increases further. Increased use of pesticides also results in increased production costs leading to higher food prices on the market. On the other hand, traditional cultures with their areas of generation adapt to this climate and develop resistance, and do not require the use of protective means.

Patent owners at GM organize claims that their use has been proven harmless to humans. They base this on Studies that largely rely on funding from major biotech corporations, while many independent studies prove this danger to our health by GM foods. However, at best it can be said that there is no expert approval on this issue and we cannot be sure in GM food safety.

Many cultures have been modified to provide non-germinating seed, so corporations such as Monsanto, Pioneer, Bayer and Syngenta ensure that farmers will sell their seeds year after year and thus exercise control over consumers and food production. GM seed plants are owned by these corporations, and farmers do not have to keep it for next sowing, rather than buying a new one, which has for the last time increased the cost of production and dependence of agricultural producers from these corporations. We believe that nature should not be patented and that all people have equal rights and obligations to it.

The danger of genetically modified crops and pesticides used along them and the sowing of monoculture on large surfaces reduces the biodiversity of the area and further endangers endangered species such as bees.

Although Monsanto and other corporations are aggressively promoting and advocating GM, more and more people are aware of the dangers they bear. As a result of increased awareness and citizen pressure, 19 EU member states have banned GM crops on their territory in 2015.

Small farmers who produce food in traditional or conventional ways are still present in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Their way of life and work is at the brink of all the biotechnological corporations present, whose products are increasingly in our fields. There is a great danger not only of GM crops used for human consumption, but also of livestock feed, which through meat and other animal products also comes to our table. Although in Bosnia and Herzegovina there are laws on genetically modified organisms that regulate this area, occasional controls reveal illegal seeded GM crops in our fields. Agricultural producers are under the pressure of large corporations and agricultural policies that are used to use GM crops and monoculture, as well as greater use of agricultural resources.

In terms of climate change and great hydro meteorological extremes, organic cultivation of traditional cultures represents an alternative to agricultural production. By clear rejection of GMO crops we protect our health, farmers, biodiversity of our country, but also the future of our children.