Genetically modified food

WDM campaigned on genetically modified organisms (GMO) between 1999 and 2000.

Background

Biotechnology giants such as Monsanto and Astra-Zenaca have attempted to control and extract profit from some of the world’s poorest farmers by merging with multinational seed companies and buying out local seed co-operatives in the third world.  In countries such as Zimbabwe, Monsanto-owned seed companies control whole distribution networks; farmers are therefore forced to buy whatever these companies choose to sell.

Campaign

WDM was concerned about the increased concentration of GM technology in the hands of a few large companies, and the mechanisms through which it will reach farmers in the developing world.  WDM worked to highlight how GM technologies could have a detrimental impact on poor farmers in the developing world, and campaigned for strong international regulation of the trade in GMOs in the form of a Biosafety Protocol. 

In January 2000 a Biosafety Protocol was finally agreed.  This Protocol sets out important principles for the trade in GMOs, and represents a start that campaigners have fought an up-hill battle to achieve.