Brussels, 10 June 2026 – A coalition of farmers, breeders, processors, beekeepers, environmentalists and citizens will mobilise in Strasbourg on 16 June to call upon MEPs to reject the deregulation of GMOs- modified by new genomic techniques (GMOs-NGTs) in a European Parliament vote on 17 June.

The proposal for a new regulation on plants obtained by NGTs constitutes a complete deregulation of GMOs-NGTs: it plans to remove risk assessment, traceability and detection methods, liability rules and protection measures against contamination, as well as product labelling for consumers. It goes against farmers’, breeders’, beekeepers’ and citizens’ rights to produce and eat GMO-free and will seriously endanger organic and conventional non-GMO value chains. If adopted, it will cause irreversible economic, agricultural, health and environmental damages and will severely mislead citizens.

The rejection of this proposal is the only way to effectively protect existing GMO-free farming systems, their economic value and the thousands of jobs associated with them, as well as the rights of European consumers. We therefore call on the Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) to reject this proposal and regulate GMOs-NGTs in the current GMO legislation (Directive 2001/18/EC).

NGTs are all covered by patents, owned by a few large multinational seed companies. Without detection methods, farmers, small and medium seed companies and other operators will be unprotected in case of contamination. These patents cover genes similar to those contained in non-GMO seeds (native genes), and will thus allow these multinationals to also privatize traditional seeds that contain these genes and abusively pursue farmers and small seed producers for patent infringement.

If the proposal is not rejected during the plenary vote, we call on MEPs to support the amendments which clarify the implementation of the European Directive on patents (98/44/EC), as well as the amendments requiring traceability, detection methods, coexistence and labelling.

List of endorsing organisations (will continue to be updated here)

Also read:

Seeds of Resistance: GMO Deregulation and Grassroots Mobilization

Agriculture Needs Science: But Which Science?, By Salvatore Ceccarelli, Agronomist & Geneticist – Pioneer of Participatory & Evolutionary Plant Breeding
From the above report: Seeds of Resistance