Action Alert: Stop the Commercial Release of genetically engineered (GE) Plums
Click Here to Sign the Petition to the USDA Now!
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USDA close to Approving 'FrankenPlums'
The United Sates Department of Agriculture (USDA) is now accepting public comments regarding the commercial approval of a Genetically Engineered (GE) plum variety, known as "C5." Not only would the approval of C5 be the first commercially released temperate GE tree variety in the United States, but also the first significant GE fruit approved for human consumption. Approval of C5 will pave the way for more GE food and tree varieties, as well as guarantee the widespread genetic contamination of conventional and organic stone fruit varieties, including plums, peaches, cherries, and apricots.
Here's How Organic Consumers
Can Take Action
Since commercial approvals of GE soy, corn, cotton, and canola almost a decade ago, grassroots activists have effectively stopped new approvals of GE crops. Genetically Engineered crops have contaminated organic varieties, have not been adequately safety tested, and have contributed to the the corporate takeover of the seed supply.
Please contact the USDA today and call for strict health, safety and environmental testing for all GE crops, as well as increased funding for ecological and integrated pest management alternatives for the plum pox virus.
Take action and sign the petition to the USDA here.
Take further action! Send a letter to the Plum Industry through the Institute of Responsible Technology.
Background Info
The GE C5 Honey Sweet Pox Potyvirus Resistant plum was developed jointly by USDA, the Institut National de la
Recherche Agronomique (France) and Cornell University. The C5 plum variety is designed to be resistant to the plum pox virus (PPV). PPV, or Sharka, is the biggest plum pest in Europe and Chile.
First found in 1999 in Adams County, PA, eradication programs have been successful in containing the virus without the use of gene splicing. Plum Pox causes no harm to animals or people who eat diseased fruit. With the exception of GE papaya, GE plums would be the first significant gene spliced food to directly enter the food supply.
Take action and sign the petition to the USDA here.
According to the Pesticide Action Network, countless toxic pesticides are applied to conventional plums, as well as dozens of "bad actor" pesticides, which include known or probable carcinogens and neurotoxins. Organic certified plums are virtually free of dangerous toxins.