The Letter from America
When it comes to GMOs, 57 million Americans can’t be wrong.
I was so proud to see the launch of the new Beyond GM initiative The Letter from America.
The fully referenced letter, signed by groups and individuals representing some 57 million Americans was is a powerfully written plea for us in the UK and the rest of Europe to learn from America’s mistakes and not to go down the route of planting GMO crops.
It was signed by celebrities such as Susan Sarandon, Daryl Hannah, Frances Fisher, by activists like Robert Kennedy Jr, by the renown environmentalist Wendell Berry, by big environmental NGOs like the Sierra Club and Friends of the Earth, by consumer groups like the Organic Consumers Association, by progressive groups like MoveOn, Care2 and Corporate Responsibility International, by health groups like the Physicians for Social Responsibility and Healthcare Without Harm, by organic businesses like NYR Organic (Neal’s Yard Remedies’ US arm) and Nutiva, and many, many more.
It was taken to Number 10 Downing St and then launched to the wider world as a full page ad in the Times newspaper and as an amazing digital billboard – seen by hundreds of thousands of commuters at London Waterloo – Europe’s busiest railway station.
It was featured in, amongst others, the Daily Mail, the Guardian, the Express and the Metro. The BBC World Service broadcast it to millions. Our partners in the US sent it out to their millions of members and followers too.
Thanks go to Pamm Larry of Label GMOS and Diana Reeves of GMO Free USA who helped drive the letter in the US. It was great to have them here for the launch.
Now that the letter is open to all US citizens to sign more than 10,000 have done so. In the UK citizens are sending it to their MPs starting a conversation that has been had in this country for many years. All in all it was a good week.
