Petition for a ban on the release of gene drive organisms
Een petitie vanuit Duitsland bestemd voor de hele EU:
Allemaal tekenen tegen de nieuwe gentech technieken, die in staat zijn het DNA (erfelijke eigenschappen) van een levend organisme, dier of mensen blijvend te veranderen en in staat is hele levensvormen te laten verdwijnen. En die als het aan Engeland ligt na de Brexit niet onderzocht en niet gelabeld hoeven te worden. Eenmaal in het milieu losgelaten is er geen weg meer terug! Vraag om een moratorium (tijdelijke stopzetting)! EU-burgers zeg nee! Een ernstige zaak!
Sign the petition
Gene drive organisms are perhaps one of the most dangerous environmental applications of genetic engineering ever developed: Enabled by new genetic engineering techniques such as CRISPR/Cas9, the genetic make-up of living organisms can be fundamentally altered and the natural rules of heredity can be overridden. In this way, wild species can be genetically modified, replaced or even eradicated. Once released into nature, gene drive organisms would be irretrievable. Any field trial would potentially be highly risky. In the worst case scenario the release of gene drive organisms into nature could accelerate the extinction of species and lead to the collapse of entire ecosystems. We call on the German Federal Government, to use its EU Council Presidency in the second half of 2020, to bring about a Europe-wide ban on the release of gene drive organisms and to make good use of its role as the chief negotiator for the EU at the next Conference of the Parties to the UN Convention on Biological Diversity in October 2020 to prevent the first releases of gene drive organisms into nature.
To the German Federal Government,
Federal Minister of the Environment Svenja Schulze,
Federal Minister of Agriculture Julia Klöckner,
Federal Research Minister Anja Karliczek,
I call on the German government to prevent the release of gene drive organisms into the environment and to work for a global moratorium on the environmental release of gene drive organisms at international level, particularly at COP 15 of the UN Convention on Biological Diversity in October 2020. In this spirit, I support the 2016 call against the release of gene drive organisms signed by more than 200 organisations worldwide, and I will continue to work, even beyond this petition, to prevent the release of gene drive organisms into the environment.
If you would like to sign this petition on behalf of an organization, please send an email to: stop-genedrives@saveourseeds.org.
ETC-group: A Call to Protect Food Systems from Genetic Extinction Technology: The Global Food and Agriculture Movement Says NO to Release of Gene Drives!
Fragment:
We, the undersigned, call for a global moratorium on any release of engineered gene drives. This moratorium is necessary to affirm the precautionary principle, which is enshrined in international law, and to protect life on Earth as well as our food supply.