Call for Ballarat City Council to go GM free
Belinda Coates, Greens candidate for Ballarat City Council has presented Council with a petition of 240 signatures to be tabled at the meeting tonight.
The petition requests that Ballarat City Council help ensure that Genetically Manipulated (GM) crops are not grown in the region. It also asks that Council declare the Council area a GM-Free Zone by:
- amending council's food service contracts, to require GM-free foods in all council food services;
- advocating for the mandatory labeling of all GMO products.
- publicly signing and distributing a GM-Free Zone declaration;
- asking local businesses and organisations to support the GM-Free Zone by signing on to a GM-free statement;
- establishing a local register to record and map the location of any GM sites in the area, when and if this becomes necessary
- lobby state and federal governments to implement GM crop bans; and
- advocating for strict liability laws to hold GM companies accountable for contamination.
“Clearly community sentiment is not in favour of allowing GM crops into our Shire. There is also significant community concern about inadequate labeling of food that may contain GM ingredients”
“Many of us in Ballarat would like to see our Council join the growing number of shires that have declared themselves GM-Free Zones. Bendigo,Moreland, Yarra Ranges, East Gippsland, South Gippsland and Bass Coast have done so and now want the government to officially declare them GM free. The government could declare areas GM free under the federal GM act but has so far been unwilling”
“As more local councils declare themselves GM free this will increase pressure on the state government to rethink its position”
For more information and comment, please contact:Belinda Coates on 0400 947 688
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