KZAG: Oppose the Lethal Impact of WTO

Associations involved in the Coalition of Green Activist Groups (KZAG) reacted on the position of the World Trade Organization (WTO) that the EU violates the trade agreement for its refusal to allow genetically modified organizms (GMOs) and demanded from the Government to take the side of the countries that are pressured by the WTO, to take all necessary measures to oppose the WTO�s lethal effects on national agriculture, nature and citizens of Croatia.

KZAG also demands, should the pressure to liberalize imports of GMOs in Croatia continue, that the country suspend its membership in this organization.

WTO determined that the unofficial moratorium on GMOs introduced in the EU represents a violation of the trade agreements, position confirmed by an unnamed official of the U.S. Government. WTO�s ire is directed also to individual countries (France, Germany, Austria, Italy, Luxembourg and Greece) because of bans on imports and trade with GMOs they imposed. The official release of this decision by WTO is expected in a couple of months, after which a 90-day complaint period will start.

After the U.S., Canada and Argentina appealed to the WTO, hundreds of thousands of signatures were collected in petitions all over Europe, to protest the pressure applied in the name of the so-called free market. KZAG warned the Croatian public and authorities of the danger presented by the pressure applied by the U.S., multinational GMO producer and distributor corporations and their national, sponsored governments. Through its promotion of the �free market�, the WTO represents exclusively the global colonizing interests of the Anglo-American capital, with GMOs being just one segment of that approach.

The associations warn of several dangers: GMOs threaten the local flora, uses predator insects and endangers the wildlife. Also, its effects on human health remain unpredictable and unknown, with the added risk of uncontrolled expansion and inability to destroy GM plants, animals and micro organisms.

"We believe that the future of the food production in Croatia lies with the ecological (organic) agriculture, which respects all particularities of local agricultural practices, biological diversity, local customs and autonomy of the Croatian farmers�, says KZAG.

KZAG believes that organic agriculture and food production will provide for the competitiveness of domestic producers in European markets, having in mind the present and future demand and high prices of organic products. It locates the biggest threat to organic agriculture in the country and its further development with the biotechnology and its eventual application in agriculture, in the form of GM crops, GM products and raising of GM animals.

In addition, having in mind that WTO can�t pressure local self-government, KZAG proposes to all counties in Croatia to use the Cartagena Protocol and institute bans on use of GM seeds, GM plants and farming GM animals, based on the principle of prevention, to protect the health of their citizens and the natural environment and biodiversity.

KZAG is a coalition of associations, including Osjecki zeleni, Kneja, Eko Kvarner, Zivot, Potrosac, Prijatelji �ivotinja, Eko Oroslavlje, Eko Omblici, Croatian Consumer Protection Association, Ekopark Pernat, ACT, Udruga Motovun - Eco Town, the Institute for Applied Research and Democratic Society Association.